Loud House: Adolescere
by PtolemyI
Summary: The chronicles of Lincoln Loud, exploring his life from when Lori leaves for college until his early adulthood.
1. Chapter 1: Changes

Chapter One

Suburbia in the summer, perhaps the closest anyone in Michigan might get to paradise. It may not be a Greek island or a villa in South Africa; but for the two friends, Lincoln and Clyde, they were comfortable regardless. Reading comics underneath the cool shade of a tree, that perfectly balanced out the burning sun, was what made them happiest in life.

Everyday, after lunch, the pair made their way to any tree, that could provide shade, and burned all of their time away. It was the secure and easy life of happy, though mildly spoilt, children that had nothing but time. Up until the last day of summer, this had been their daily lives.

In the back of his mind, Lincoln had known that, ever since school had ended, it was just a matter of time until Lori made her trip to college in the state over. The one that just so happened to be the very same college that her boyfriend was planning on attending. Now that such a time had finally come, the blissful days of Lincoln and Clyde absorbing bundles of comics was over. In their wake was; for one, Clyde crying profusely, as he had an unresolved baby crush on Lincoln's oldest sister, then there was also the ungodly amount of planning around Lori, as her disorganised lifestyle and lack of planning made a mountain out of a molehill, and finally, every member of the Loud family was adapting to the new situation in their own way and that too added mayhem to those once breezy days.

Luna, Luan and Lynn, took it in stride, but Leni and the younger sisters were finding it a lot more difficult to adapt to a change that plainly spelled out the future for all of the Loud siblings, they wouldn't always be together.

In the middle of September, the first of the Loud siblings was all packed up, ready to leave, and saying her final goodbyes to her sisters and brother. "I'll miss you, Lori." Leni blurted out through her sobs, a sight that made Lori roll her eyes. "Leni, I'm not literally going away for ever, I'll be back during every break." She explained calmly and pulled Lori into a hug, a hug that became much more prolonged after Leni tightened her grip and refused to let Lori go. Eventually Lori broke free, and after wiping Leni's tears off of her right shoulder, she said goodbye to each of her siblings in order of age. At first she made an act of skipping Lincoln, prompting him to shout in dismay. Yet, after a little more joking around, she pulled him into a big hug. "See you soon, Lincoln." She said softly, only to huff when all of the loud sibling gathered for a group hug; crushing the two of them. "Auggh, it is literally still too hot for this!" Lori exclaimed, she pat the two siblings, and genius Poindexter, on the head, kissed Lilly and made a dive for the sweet spot in the van. Lynn Loud Sr. had been sat in the drivers sit of the van and blubbering the whole time. He managed to mumble a quick "bye kids" before reversing out of the driveway and setting off on the way to Lori's new home. The ten remaining siblings watched the van until it disappeared round a bend.

A heavy huffing broke the silence and the Louds turned to see a very exhausted Clyde stumbling in front of the group. "Did I make it in time to see Lori?" Clyde heaved out, before gasping for air.

"Just missed her." Lincoln said dryly.

"Oh, er, see ya, Lincoln." Clyde responded and then ran in the opposite direction of the van. Shouting, "hey Lori! Wait up!" Soon, Clyde also disappeared, though who knows when or where he might reappear. Nevertheless, one by one, the Loud family made their way back inside their home and, though different, life in the loud house continued.

* * *

Six months later, any of the Louds that hadn't already aged up were one year older than they were prior. Lisa, the aforementioned Poindexter, refused to celebrate her birthday on the belief that she wasn't three only to suddenly turn four the next day. Little had physically changed for the Louds, but anyone who knew better, their mother Rita for example, could see the beginnings of change. Leni was becoming less of a stick with oranges tied to her chest and was starting to get closer to having the body of a model, albeit one that didn't starve herself. Luna and Luan hadn't changed much, though it was apparent that they had grown a couple of inches, Rita could tell that they'd soon be needing a new wardrobe for their growing hips. Lynn, however, had changed the most. At fourteen, her daily exercises were paying off and the early onset of defined muscles were beginning to show. Right now Lynn's biggest problem was deciding what build she'd want for the rest of her life. She played numerous sports and most of them could be hampered by having too much or too little muscle. The rest of the Louds, on the other hand, had only grown a little taller. Lincoln had barely changed at all, for a man with a plan, Lincoln, compared to his sisters, was rather unfocused when it came to the future. He only ever planned ahead a day or two and that was something that came back to bite him endlessly.

As had become routine, Lincoln and Clyde were making their way home when Clyde started sniffing loudly. "Clyde, are you crying again?" Lincoln asked, not so much surprised but flabbergasted that Clyde still could not put his puppy love down. "I'm sorry Lincoln. But, when I remember the good times." Clyde sobbed. "You mean, the good times like when Lori was your pretend girlfriend at the fair?" Lincoln quizzed.

"Yes!" Clyde shouted and started moving his arms in swift chopping motions. "That day was the best of my life."

"You were barely conscious for it." Lincoln bemused out loud.

"That just shows how well me and Lori fit together." Clyde said in a dreamy voice, ignoring the snot hanging underneath his nose.

Once they arrived at the Loud house, Clyde burst into tears. Lincoln, a little perturbed by the display, pulled out a handkerchief and forced it into Clyde's hands. Clyde nodded in acknowledgement and the two parted ways.

Upon entering, Luan made a leap and landed in front of Lincoln for a well-timed punchline. "Isn't it a crying shame he blue all over you?" Luan exclaimed as she pointed to the tear marks on the side of one of Lincoln's arms. "Luan, that joke is wrong on so many levels." He grumbled as he walked up the stairs.  
"Ha! Now you're getting into the swing of things." Luan said cheerily, just before Lincoln set off a trap and was yanked into the air by a rope. She gave the now tied up Lincoln a playful push and then laughed as she made her way back to her room. "It's good that Clyde is your friend." Lucy said in her usual monotone voice, as she made her way past the tied up Lincoln. "If Lori ever goes missing, we'll know who to blame." Lincoln wanted to make a comeback, but Lucy was already halfway down the stairs and so he decided he had better things to waste his energy on. Such as undoing the knotted rope around his ankle. "Here comes Lunatic Lynn!" Yelled the resident jock, causing Lincoln to groan as a flash of red pounced on him. Snapping the rope in an instant and causing the two to fall on top of each other. Lynn hit the ground first, with Lincoln on top, allowing him to make a speedy recovery. "Knock it off Lynn, shouldn't you be begging Lisa for help with your homework?" Lincoln griped as he got off of Lynn and made his way to his room. Lynn blushed, but forgot about the ordeal in an instant and jumped down the whole flight of stairs.

Once inside, Lincoln, wanting the most of his time, tore off his clothes and landed on his bed in his underwear. He reached for the nearest comic, only to be intruded on by Lana. "Hey, Lincoln, can I have-" She started, only for Lincoln to interrupt her. "Oh, no, you don't. I'm twelve now and that means I can do this." The moment the words had left his lips, Lincoln lifted Lana up by both hands, as if he was holding a bomb, and marched into her's and Lola's room. Lola, closed the diary she was writing in as she watched Lana being carried into their room. Lincoln put Lana down gently and then marched straight out, closing the door behind him, only to drop to the floor panting. "Not worth it." Lincoln groaned.

"Hey Lincoln." Lola called out in a dark voice. "Just remember that I'll get you back for striding about my room in your tighty whities." Lincoln huffed, releasing his stress into the air.

"Woo, another one bites the dust." Luna called out, before sitting next to Lincoln. The didn't say a word to each other; as Luna strummed her guitar, trying out different tunes and styles. Eventually Lincoln was the first to speak. "Okay, I need to get up now." He muttered to himself, as he heaved himself onto his feet. Luna quickly responded, "don't go just yet, I wanted to capture this moment." Lincoln ignored her and slammed his bedroom door behind him.

A mere hour later, Lincoln still hadn't read a single page of any of his unread comics. There could have been any reason for this, but Lincoln blamed fatigue and that meant that he indirectly blamed his sisters. Lincoln laid down on his bed and yawned, there had to be something that he could do. It paid to have a plan, but he couldn't plan every day for who knows how long. No, there had to be an all-encompassing plan that would always allow him to move through the house undisturbed. He didn't mind his sisters, but he decided that they were taking a toll on his free time and something had to be done about that.

* * *

A couple more hours later, Lincoln had hatched a plan that would continuously work in his favour. So long as nothing went wrong, nothing would ever go wrong again. With nine sisters in the house, that was a tall order, but Lincoln was confident it would go his way. It had to. With a dramatic slam of his finger, a movie disc popped out of his laptop. It was a previously blank disc with a terrible movie now burnt onto it; 'Attack of the really annoying aliens that really hate football!' This would take care of Leni and Lynn. As for Luna and Luan, he didn't have to 'take care of them' so much as redirect them. Thankfully, for this, cadet Clyde was on the job. A loud explosion shook the house, nearly breaking Lincoln's train of thought. Lisa wasn't a problem if she was working, however, when she's not, she was instead patrolling the house; in search of a test subject. Luckily Lana would help Lincoln with this one and that just left Lucy and Lola. Luckily, Lincoln had just the thing for those two. Lincoln sighed. He went over the plan again. Once more. And again. Trying to iron out the creases in his plan before he enacted it. Happy it was as good as it was going to get. He left his room and entered the belly of the beast.

Lincoln started by knocking on the door of the bedroom that now solely belonged to Leni. Truthfully, Leni hadn't caused Lincoln any fatigue, but she was an unknown variable and that made her just as dangerous as any other sister. "Oh, hey Lincy. Have you come to model for me again?" She asked sweetly as she carefully aimed a cerulean thread for the eye of the needle. "Better! We're going to watch a movie." Lincoln said with way too much false excitement.

"Ooh, is it a movie about fashion?" Leni asked in a cheery manner.

"Er, um, it has clothes in it?" Lincoln stammered.  
"Yay! I love clothes." Leni shouted as she jumped to her feet. Quickly following behind Lincoln.  
"Hey! Lynn, get your butt over here!" Lincoln yelled towards Lynn and Lucy's door.  
"This better not be something stupid again, I was in the middle of my push-ups." Lynn gripped, after she opened the door to answer Lincoln.

"You can do push-ups and crunches during the sports movie."  
"Lincoln, I thought we were going to watch a fashion movie." Leni moaned, causing Lynn to give Lincoln the stink eye.

"No, I said there'd be clothes. But, that's besides the point. Did you not know that sports attire can be fashionable? For shame, Leni." Lincoln weaved his web of deception even tighter, not realising that he might have gone to far; until he saw Leni's lower lip tremble. "But now's the perfect time to educate yourself. Always learning right?"  
"Nice save, Lame-o" Lynn muttered in the background as Leni returned to her bright self.

"I wasn't just talking about Leni, you and me can learn a lot from this. A lot of the actors are played by real athletes. You've got to understand your heroes to beat your heroes, am I right?" Lynn shrugged and followed Leni and Lincoln downstairs.

Upon setting up the DVD player, giving time for Leni and Lynn to sit down, and pressing play, Lincoln suddenly exclaimed "crap, I forgot something, be right back" and rushed upstairs. Lynn wasn't the slightest bit convinced, but had already sat down and thought that chasing Lincoln would be more trouble than it was worth. Leni, however, hadn't even noticed, as she sat with her eyes glued to the TV.

Lincoln rapped his doors against Lana and Lola's door, calling out Lana in particular. "Yeah, what is it Lincoln?" Lana asked with a sharp edge to her voice.  
"Say, Lana, don't you think it's all a waste?" Lincoln asked in his sweetest voice.

"Think what is a waste, Linc?" Lana asked, getting a little fed-up with Lincoln bothering her.

"Well, what do you do with your animals when they need to go?" Lincoln questioned.

"I let them outside, like a normal person. Which clearly you ain't." Lana jested, though trying to show how annoyed she was and Lola, like Lynn prior, was giving Lincoln the stink eye. "Yeah, you see, Lisa thinks that's a waste."

"What!?" Lana barked.  
"Her words, not mine." Lincoln said as he walked into his room.

"Hey wait a minute!" Lana called out after him, but he had already closed his door behind him.

* * *

The next day, Lincoln was walking back home with Clyde again. He was doing a lot better this time. Unfortunately for him, that was about to change. "So Clyde, how are you feeling about coming over today?" Lincoln inquired.  
"Great, I-" Clyde began, only to be interrupted by Lincoln.

"Great!" Lincoln exclaimed and tugged on Clyde's sleeve, getting him to run back to the Loud House.

Upon entering the Loud house, Lincoln took a small button out of his pocket and pushed it. The gargled sound of the aliens, from the awful movie that Lincoln had gotten Lynn and Leni to watch, droned on throughout the house. Following this, there was two loud door slams, signalling that scaredy-cat Leni and superstitious Lynn had run into their rooms to hide. Two down, six to go. "Luna!" Lincoln called out and the eager rocker girl ran out of her room and came downstairs. "Yo! Bro! What's up?" Luna yelled, at the top of her lungs no less, as she swung her axe. "A little, 'man with a broken heart music' please." Lincoln said with a triumphant smile.

"Weird. But alright, you got it Bro!" Luna barely took time to even question the request before she started to play a heavy bass line that caused Clyde to burst into tears. "I just miss her so much." He blubbered. Lincoln took the opportunity to make a mad dash for Luna and Luan's room.

"Hey! Luan, ready to add the comedy bank?"  
"I, er, what?" Luan mumbled, clearly confused as she was in the middle of refilling her whoopee cushions.

"Clyde's trying to sing while he's crying buckets!" Lincoln exclaimed, having whole heartedly thrown his best friend to the wolves.

"Oh...oh. Oh, wow! That's going to go viral." Luan, slowly, but surely, realised what was up and managed to get into the right mindset as she grabbed her camera and ran for the first floor.

Lincoln followed Luan, only to slip away into the dining room. Upon spotting Lucy, he dipped a finger into her open book and led her back up the stairs, this time towards Lana and Lola's room. With only Lola inside the room, Lucy was easily lead into. "Ehem." Lola coughed.  
"Brought you a sister to play tea party with, enjoy! Okay, bye now!" With that said, Lincoln left the room before she could say another word. Before he entered his room, Lincoln pressed an ear to Lisa and Lilly's room. Inside, he could hear Lisa going off on what sounded like a long speech about animal excrement. That made eight and Lilly wasn't yet at an age to cause Lincoln any undue stress, so that, in truth, made nine. Abandoning Clyde, Lincoln finally entered his room with the intent of relaxing, with his comics, for a long time.

* * *

Barely an hour later, Lincoln found that he still couldn't read much into his comics. He knew he wasn't fatigued, a little tired perhaps, but reading his comics helped with that. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, he just couldn't get into them. With a slight sigh, Lincoln decided that all he needed was a change of scenery. Taking the comic he wanted to read most, Lincoln made his way to the bathroom. He opened the door and immediately froze at the sight of what he saw. Sitting on the lid-closed toilet; was a naked Luan, with her fingers poised over her Labia, while her other hand clenched her developing right breast, all while her mouth was agape, clearly she had been panting just a second prior. Lincoln, though in far less precarious situation, was always sharing in the embarrassment, as he stood in nothing but his boxers. This moment may as well have been frozen in time, as Lincoln and Luan stared at each other. Eventually, Lincoln was the first to break, as he backed away and slowly closed the door.

Lincoln was almost brain dead, his body acting purely on the last command from his brain, he walked backwards until he tripped and fall onto his back. He didn't know what to do, common sense dictated that these things happened and Lincoln should just get over himself. But all logic and reason and just been thrown out the window. After a few moment of lying there, Luan's voice called out to him. "Lincoln?"

"Yeah." His voice was strained and forces, very much unlike the usual Lincoln.

"I thought I was the only one left in the house." Luan explained in a quiet, reserved voice.

"I didn't notice anyone leave." Lincoln stammered.

"Well they did." Luan stated and then, after a brief pause, she said "I'm coming out now." The door opened and a very normal and regular Luan exited the bathroom, though the awkward atmosphere had only grown and had enough tension to threaten to choke the life out of Lincoln. "Everyone got left because they got bored and you were acting weird." Luan explained, trying to drive the topic elsewhere.

"I see." Lincoln muttered.

"Is that all you can say? You yutes." Though Luan scolded Lincoln, he was happy that he was talking to a side of Luan that he personally knew a lot better.

"I'm sorry." Lincoln apologised and did so sincerely, knowing that his plan had backfired in his face like one of Luan's pies.

"Let's just forget this ever happened, okay? I'll forget that you manipulated us, and Clyde, and you forget what you just saw. Alright?" After Luan explained the plan going forth, Lincoln nodded with a solemn look. "The others are your own problem to fix. They aren't happy either." Luan said this last part with a stern face, but gave a smile and patted Lincoln and the shoulder. "The toilet's free by the way." She joked. Lincoln gave a forced half-smile and did his best to put the whole even out of his mind. "Actually, if you don't mind me asking, how did you all find out about the great lengths I went to?" Lincoln asked, hoping to tie up this one last detail. A niggling question in the back of his mind. "Honestly, Lisa did and then told us." Luan said with a half shrug and Lincoln laughed in response.  
"I've been a complete idiot today, haven't I?" Lincoln inquired.  
"Yep. You sure have." Luna replied and they both shared a short, awkward laugh together.


	2. Chapter 2: Rainy Days and Stormy Nights

Chapter Two

April showers were falling upon Royal Woods. The beginning of the rainy days that kept any rational human being kept inside their house, the working man not being a very rational creature. While Rita Loud and Lynn Loud Sr, were at work, the Loud siblings were trapped inside and were looking for ways to keep themselves occupied.

It had been a month since Lincoln had any more than five pages, at a time, of his comic books and he was bouncing off of the walls with frustration and was relying on Clyde to get him through the day indoors. "Alright Clyde, next factoid." Lincoln grumbled, barely focused. Clyde had, sometime in the previous three months, picked up a love of tidbits and facts and was always eager to share. "Alright, this one comes from a website that deals out random facts, Ptolemy XV Caesar, son of Cleopatra VII and Gaius Julius Caesar, was the last emperor of Egypt, the last of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the first child to not be born of incest in over two hundred year of the dynasty." Clyde stuttered as he finished, clearly not aware of the last tidbit until he had read it out loud. "Hey, isn't one of your cats called Cleopatra?" Lincoln inquired.

"That's right." Clyde answered awkwardly, clearly unsure of how to deal with the situation. "Should we pick this up tomorrow?" Lincoln asked to which Clyde agreed and they both hurriedly finished the conversation. "Well that backfired spectacularly." Lincoln muttered to himself.

Knowing that simply waiting around wasn't an option, Lincoln left the room and was almost immediately accosted by the twins. "We have a strict dress code." Lola barked.

"Head up, eyes forward." Lana included. This sparked an idea in Lincoln's mind.

"Since you two are playing cops again today, do you wanna arrest some criminals?" Lincoln queried.

"Always." Lana answered.  
"You dunce, don't let him fool you!" Lola exclaimed, but Lincoln had already left the twins to their arguing.

On his way down the stairs, Lynn met Lincoln halfway up. "Out of the way Lincoln, I'm-" Lynn started, only for Lincoln to interrupt her.

"Feeling a bit risky? Great! Meet you in the living room in five minutes?"

"Huh?" Lynn was clearly shocked, giving Lincoln ample time to leapfrog over her and run downstairs into the living room.

"Hey, guys!" He shouted, interrupting everyone. "I figured out what we can do."

"You mean, something other than what we're already doing?" Lori, who was back for spring break, retorted.

"That's right, the twins want to play a game of risk." Lincoln replied, nodding his head a little.  
"We do?" The twins, who had followed Lincoln downstairs, asked, clearly confused.  
"If you want to conquer the world and arrest all who oppose you, you do." Lincoln responded.  
"Always." Lola acknowledged darkly.

"You dunce, don't let him fool you!" Lana cried out.

"Great, that makes all of us." Lincoln said, happy that his plan was coming together.

"What!?" The four oldest louds screamed out in disbelief.

"What, do you mean what? Luna are you going to let Britain get captured by anyone other than yourself? And Luan, are you going to miss an opportunity to mine comedy gold?" Lincoln was placing his hopes in the others following if he could convince Luna and Luan.

"Might as well, it's not like I can't crack a few jokes while at the table." Luan replied.

"Well, I'm not playing, I'm literally busy talking to Bobby." Lori argued.  
"Which is why Bobby's also playing, we're splitting into six teams of two. Bobby can literally be your partner." Lincoln asserted. Lori wanted to flat out deny Lincoln; but Bobby, on the other side of the phone, sounded delighted and so Lori unenthusiastically agreed. "Well, I don't want to be left out." Leni said and picked up her fashion kit, ready to go.

* * *

After they had grabbed a box of risk, the eleven sat down at the table and the teams were decided; Lori and Bobby, Leni and Lisa, Luna and Lilly, Luan and Lucy, the twins and Lynn and Lincoln. The teams were given twenty armies each, sorted out the territories, though people left Britain for Luna for fear of poking a bear, and decided the order of play. Once that was finished, the game began.

The game started with Luna and Luan almost immediately forming an alliance, Lucy nonchalantly agreeing and Lily being perfectly happy to chew on the corners of more cards. Threatened by this, Leni immediately led Lisa into making a break for Australia, which Lori was happy to give up as she expanded into America. Lisa chagrined Leni for boxing their team into one tiny continent and Lynn and Lincoln argued about every decision they made. The twins, who were being lucky with their rolls, managed to turtle themselves against the Luna/Luan alliance and Lori played with experience and a specific strategy in mind. In seeing their dwindling chances, however, Lynn and Lincoln managed to agree on making bold and daring moves. Eventually, by taking control of Britain, they had antagonised Luna and lead her into a blind mission to wipe the team off the map. In doing so, she cut through any territory in the way, burning her alliance with Luan and losing valuable resources to Lori. She was the first to go, giving Lynn and Lincoln a bit more breathing space.

Eventually, the teams came down to Lincoln/Lynn, Luan/Lucy and Leni/Lisa. Lori having lost because she was continuously distracted by Bobby. "I'm just going to get a drink." Luan said and asked Lucy to play on without her for a minute. Soon after, it was Lincoln's turn to roll and as he prepared for a good throw, he saw, out of the corner of his eyes, Luan standing in the door frame to the kitchen. He looked up to see her baring her chest, showing her revealed nipples. Lincoln dropped the dice in surprise, dealing himself a snake eyes. Luan quickly pulled her clothes together and darted forward. "Hey guys, I'm back. Bad throw, am I right Lincoln?" After laughing to herself, she and Lucy proceeded to win the game. Lynn, a little tired of the game towards the end, went back upstairs and the others returned to what they had been doing previously. Only Lincoln remained at the table. Left more confused than ever.

* * *

The evening came and went and soon it was nighttime at the Loud house. Lincoln was just about to jump into bed when there was a knock at the door. Upon opening it, Lincoln spotted Luna; who was not at all ready for bed and instead looked ready to go out. "Hey bro, can you be dressed in ten minutes?" She asked him, expectantly.

"I can, but why?" Lincoln quizzed.

"It's time for the best night of your life, little bro." Luna responded, clearly getting more excited by the minute and then said "ten minutes or I leave you behind. " Luna then made her way quickly and quietly downstairs. Lincoln wanted to go back to sleep, normally he would do; but, perhaps because he wasn't tired or perhaps because he had had nothing better to do for some time, Lincoln got dressed and met Luna downstairs. "Great. Let's get going, dude." After she said this, Luna picked up her axe, which she had left by the front door, and led Lincoln out the house.

As they walked down the street, Luna took a deep breath and clapped her hands together. "I can feel my adrenaline running already, tonight's going to be a great night." Luna proclaimed.

"And just what is tonight? An underground concert?" Lincoln questioned as he shivered and shook.

"You got it in one, bro." Luna said and continued with "I usually just go on my own, but I remembered the smooch concert and figured; hey it's been a while, maybe Lincoln'd like to go to a concert with me." Lincoln nodded, though it was hard to tell with his shaking, and responded in gratitude.

"Well, thanks Luna."  
"No problem, man." Luna declared and the two made idol chit chat the rest of the way.

As it turned out, the underground concert was quite literally underground. Located at the bottom of a parking lot next to a rundown hotel in Detroit. "Fourteen miles is one heck of a walk Luna." Lincoln bemoaned, as they made their way into the parking lot.

"Certainly true, but certainly worth it." Luna grinned and then added "Oh, don't take anything people offer you."  
"I don't think I need to be told about taking candy from strangers." Lincoln muttered just loud enough for Luna to hear.

"Good, neither of us want to know what it feels like to drink piss-yellow beer, especially if it's been spiked." Luna replied as she led Lincoln through the crowd.

"I'm starting to think that isn't a good idea." Lincoln cried out in a panic.

"It'll be fine, little brother. Just stay close to me and don't be an idiot." Luna surmised, quickly adding "You do know how not to be an idiot don't you?"

"Ha, ha Luna." Lincoln said disgruntled. Eventually, they made their into the middle of the audience near a makeshift stage.

The first band that played were passable, the second were drunk and got into an argument with each other, before they all stormed off, the third, however, was probably the band that everybody had come to see. They weren't great, merely good, but nobody was complaining when the event was free of charge. Luna easily got into it the most as she grabbed Lincoln in a head lock and jumped up and down as she cheered. Lincoln tried to break free, but he was a lot weaker than the young woman who carried around all of her equipment. Without warning, Luna suddenly let go of Lincoln to do her rock pose and Lincoln fell to the floor. Startled, Lincoln got up, only to immediately become lost in the crowd. Most of the people around him were much taller than him and Luna, so finding her became difficult and then became impossible after the band amped it up a notch. Pushing through the crowd only served to make him more and more lost. Most were happy to ignore Lincoln, but those who were drunk jeered him. "Would you like to suck on my tits?"

"Fuck off, brat!"

"Hey! Don't shove, you little shit!" Eventually, a large hand grabbed Lincoln and dragged him out of the audience.

"You alright kid?" Said the deep voice of Chunk.

"Y-yeah." Lincoln managed to stammer. Quickly Luna joined the two of them.

"I'm sorry Bro, I lost sight of you." Luna said in a panicked voice. Chunk answered for him.

"He's fine love, just needed some breathing room, yeah?" Lincoln nodded. "Well, I'm going, all the bands on after this one stink." Chunk lifted Lincoln's head up, checking his eyes, then made his way out of the underground parking lot. "I think we should go too." Luna said in dismay.  
"Yeah, me too." Lincoln replied and they left without another word.

The two siblings were making their back home, in total silence, until Luna spoke up. "I really am sorry, dude." She said quietly.

"I know, it's okay." Lincoln responded. Making sure to add "and it would have been fun otherwise."

"You mean it, man?"Luna asked, getting her hopes up.  
"Sure, water under the bridge?" Lincoln asked.  
"Definitely!" Luna exclaimed and pulled Lincoln into a hug in the middle of the street. Lincoln stiffened, thinking back to what Luan did half a day prior.

"I think we're good." Lincoln said, which prompted Luna to break from the hug. Though she protectively kept one had on his shoulder as they made their way back to Royal Woods.

* * *

Once back in Royal woods, it was the early hours of the morning. Lincoln was exhausted and just wanted to fall into his bed, Luna, however, had other plans. "We go back home and the creaky stairs will just wake mum and dad up." Luna concluded. "Hope you're up for an all-nighter." She also added with a smile. Soon after, they made their way into an empty park. "What do we do now?" Lincoln asked, his tiredness showing.

"We lark about." Luna answered.

"Huh?" Gasped Lincoln, making Luna grimace.  
"We waste time." She said and sat down on the bench nearest the entrance. Lincoln joining her. At first they start in silence, Lincoln fidgeted for a while and he lost his patience. "This is just really boring, Luna!" He cried out. If he had known that this was how the night would turn out, he wouldn't have joined Luna for her latest escapade. "Yeah, no kidding." Luna replied and Lincoln turned to her, wide-eyed. "What? You think I planned for it to turn out this way." Figuring that idle chit chat would be the best way to pass the time, Lincoln decided it was time for some Q and A. "So, what do you normally do on nights like this?" He inquired. Luna chuckled and answered "well, normally I finish the concert, sometimes I'm involved you see. After that, when I get back to Royal woods, I have time for a quick game of polishing the pearl, in the restroom, and than I get home in time for breakfast." Lincoln stumbled at the last part.

"Eww, I didn't need to know that Luna." He remarked.  
"Well you asked." She said and gave out another brief chuckle. "Still though, I'm happy you came today, even if it didn't end so well." Luna stated.

"I'm just glad that Chunk found me, when he did." Lincoln said, a bit pensive.

"Yeah, Chunk's good like that." Said Luna.

"Do you like him?" Asked Lincoln, to which Luna replied.

"Yeah, but not in that way. I'm glad he's my roadie, but I don't think it'd work out between us and I don't think I'd want it to." Lincoln nodded, yawned, and started rubbing at his eyes. Quietly, Luna drew him in, close to her breast, and Lincoln quickly fell asleep.

* * *

At daybreak, Luna shook Lincoln awake. "Hey, bro, time to get up." She said to him as he roused up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "What time is it?" Lincoln asked, moving his hand up to shelter him from the morning sun. Beside him, Luna yawned and said "time to get home and pretend we've been there all night." She smiled as she lifted her arms up and felt the warmth from the sun. "Good thing Luan'll back us up." Luna added with a grin. This was something that Lincoln didn't mirror as he still felt confused about Luan's actions the day prior. "Come on, you'll feel better after we get home in time for breakfast." Luna remarked and signalled for Lincoln to follow her.

Sneaking through the backdoor, the pair found Luan waiting for them and they soon found out why. Once the door fully opened, water splashed Lincoln and Luna and a bucket barely missed them, all of which was topped with Luan laughing. "Pailed it?" Luna grumbled. To which Luna responded

"the jokes just wright themselves, don't whey?" Soon Luna and Lincoln smelt a horrid odour and realised why Luan had chosen the word "whey." She had used the watery, liquid produced from sour milk. "You can't just do me a favour and leave it at that, can you?" Luna growled. Luan, however, shrugged, laughed again and made her way to the table for breakfast. "I guess we're going to have to shower before breakfast." Luna grumbled and pulled the wistful Lincoln, who was now deeply regretting agreeing to go out with Luna, along with her.

On the second floor, Luna quickly pulled Lincoln into the bathroom. "Wait, what? What are you pulling me in here for?" Lincoln demanded.

"You wanna wait outside, covered in sour milk, or do you wanna get clean in time for breakfast?" Luna asked and Lincoln wanted to argue, but the smell of the milk put him off. "Just face the other way." Luna griped. The two faced away from each other, as they got undressed. Luna, being less embarrassed and therefore quicker to undress than Lincoln, turned on the shower and got in first. When Lincoln finished getting undressed, he was left with the difficult task of getting in without seeing Luna. "Don't be such a baby, just jump in already dude." Luna called out. "I've got my back turned to you, anyway." She added. Lincoln side stepped into the bathtub and managed to get in with his back facing Luna, just as Luna's back was facing him. "This is really awkward Luna." Lincoln moaned after Luna lifted up the shower head to be able to also spray down on Lincoln. "Only awkward if you make it awkward, bro." Luna replied.  
"I guess, but why are we even in this situation?" Lincoln responded, not wanting a reply but getting one all the same.

"Well, Luan got us covered in sour milk and so that's why."  
"I know how, I asked why." Lincoln snapped.

"Just how it is in a big family, man, especially with a sister like Luan." Luna explained, the following pitter patter of feet on a tiled floor alluding to Luna having gotten out of the bathtub. "All yours, bro." She said, the door creaking making it apparent that she had just left. Was this what life in a big family was like? Lincoln wondered to himself; catching Luan naked on the toilet, followed by her showing her nipples, followed by showering with Luna. Is that really what living in a big family is like? Pondered Lincoln as he let water rain down on him. As he turned the tap and shut the shower off, Lincoln guessed that the answer was what it usually was, a little bit of yes and no.


	3. Chapter 3: New Experiences

Chapter Three

The middle of May marked the three weeks since Lincoln had packed his beloved comic books into a shoe box and, with a heavy heart, put them under the bed. There was still a great amount of love and care for the worn-down, repeatedly read, comics, as they had been lovely and orderly stacked in the shoe box; but, as of right now, there was simply no use for them. His enjoyment of his favourite pastime was simply no longer there. Instead, out of a mixture of frustration and boredom, Lincoln had taken up a habit of long walks and some of Lynn's exercises. At the time she had been questioning and somewhat disbelieving of Lincoln's request. But, eventually, she came to show enjoyment and pride in one of her younger siblings taking after her. She made sure to take the time to phone Lori, who had returned to college, and gloat about this sudden change in Lincoln.

Nevertheless, a month wasn't granting visible results. Though he had been able to increase some of his exercises by a few numerical points, a couple more push-ups here, one or two more sit-ups there; he couldn't make any improvements that felt like an accomplishment. Rather than the visible improvements that Lincoln sought, he had only become visibly embittered instead. He had, for a couple of days, taken to eating whenever he was frustrated. But Lynn caught him in the act and promptly told him off. "Exercising daily and eating like a vacuum cleaner is what sumo wrestlers do!" She had cried out. "Feel free to go for that kind of body, if you really feel like it, but I'm not helping my lame-o squeeze into his bedroom every night." As a result, Lincoln had nothing with which to channel his frustrations, this in turn lead to an unkempt appearance. Scruffy hair that was matched with chewed finger nails and pale skin.

This, with nine overprotective sisters living in the same house, was something that quickly became apparent. Without Lori, however, attempts to help Lincoln were disastrous. Every Loud merely pushed the things they liked to do onto Lincoln and expected results. That is to say; fashion, rock out sessions, puns, bare-knuckle boxing, plumbing and princesses, gastral intestine studies and the baby that inspired them, were not helping Lincoln in the slightest. After this, a quick live session with Lori and Bobby compounded the message that Lincoln needed to be given space until he opened up.

This was where Lincoln was at currently, stressed-out, confused and showing that he wasn't very good at reading the numerous hints, from various siblings, about opening up. The only constant, however, was change and change would come in the form of three knocks at Lincoln's bedroom door. "Hi Leni." Lincoln muttered as he massaged the calves of his legs. "Ooh, you're good, you always know it's me." Leni said with genuine amazement.

"That's because you're the only one who knocks when the door's open." Lincoln replied lazily.

"Oh, okay. Wanna go to a convention with me?" Leni asked, her voice, and her eyes, being full of excitement in equal measure.

"I'm not really into fashion, Leni." Lincoln answered, rolling over and facing towards the wall.

"But, don't you like comic books?" Leni asked with a slight frown.

"I do, but... hey! I forgot there was a comic book convention today!" Lincoln blurted out as he shoot to his feet.

"So, you'll come with me?" Leni inquired, her joyful face showing that she'd make for a bad poker player.

"Of course, let's go, right now!" Said with extreme excitement, giddy with emotions that he hadn't felt for sometime.

"Yay!" The tall blonde squealed as she grabbed Lincoln by the hand and dragged him through and out the house.

* * *

At the bus stop, even though Lincoln was taking the time to relax, Leni couldn't stay still and bobbed up on down repeatedly as she shook her fists in excitement. "I didn't think you'd be so into this." Lincoln remarked, inquisitive of his older sister's bouncy, hyperactive mood.

"I'm totes happy, you're happy." Leni replied as she sat next to Lincoln, albeit, with her fists tapping against her legs. Following this, Lincoln sat in silence, almost praying that this would be what got him back into comics, while Leni hummed to herself. She jumped up, upon seeing a bus, but Lincoln quickly pulled her back down. "That's not ours." He told her. Leni pulled a face, but smiled and accepted his words.

"You're so reliable, Lincy." She said, with a glow.

"I am? I mean, I guess I can be." Lincoln mumbled in response.  
"Sure, I mean, you've totes been there for me after Lori left." Leni declared, a declaration that left Lincoln scratching his head.

"No more than anyone else in the family." Lincoln replied, a little confused by the direction this haphazard conversation was going.

"I know, but that doesn't change a thing. I'm totes lucky and I'm glad you're all there for me." After she finished talking, Leni turned and looked straight into Lincoln's eyes. Under pressure, Lincoln's voice cracked a little as he spoke. "Well, I'm glad too Leni." Lincoln wanted to avert his eyes, but found himself able as Leni continued eye-contact with a big smile on her face. Eventually, however, she broke it as she started to knead Lincoln's hair. "Aww, thanks Lincy." She said and then started to rub Lincoln's hair with more intensity. "Wow, your hair's so white it catches all the light." She continued to play with Lincoln's hair as she said this and, an unnerved Lincoln, took the first chance he could to get out of the situation. "Hey look!" He exclaimed. "The bus is here." Prompting Leni to jump up and get ready for boarding.

* * *

When they arrived at the convention, Lincoln found it made up of a different crowd than the year prior. Yes, there were still people is costume play, coming for a good time and to love and appreciate comics; but the crowd was older and was made up primarily of people towards the latter end of adolescence. Costumes were more detailed, fans were more expressive of their love for the fandom at large and there was certain changes that Lincoln couldn't quite put his finger on and yet he felt aware of them all the same. "Wow, Lincoln. All these costumes look really good." Leni declared, stumbling around without any clear direction. Lincoln was quickly reminded of the underground concert the month prior and grabbed a firm hold of Leni's dress. "Huh, oh, do you wanna hold my hand Lincoln?" Leni asked innocently, causing a spotty teen, behind the pair, to snicker. "Not at all, I just don't want you to wander off." Lincoln said with a forced grin.

"Okay!" Leni chirped and allowed Lincoln to lead her inside the convention hall.

Inside, Lincoln found the con to be even more different than he realised. Under dressed booth babes were dotted around the hall, numerous authors, that had appeared at the last convention, weren't there and the hall itself was decorated in posters and banners geared more towards Japanese comics. "We should go." Lincoln said, his disappointment ringing clear. Leni, however, missed every beat and still believed that the con would get him out of his bad funk. "Aww, but Lincoln, we just got here. Can't we just explore a little?" She asked endearingly and made sure to turn up the puppy eyes. Lincoln's better judgement said to stick to his guns, but he had a weakness against puppy dog eyes and quickly gave in.

After exploring a bit, Lincoln gave up hope on finding a single ace savvy comic, or any of his cowboy flicks for that matter, and instead decided to try out a random booth that looked interesting; as Leni asked some insanely dedicated cosplayers, for tips, in the meanwhile. Behind the booth, sat a skinny man, in his early twenties, with manga-style comics in front of him. "Hey, these look good." Lincoln said as he thumbed through the nearest comic. The pages themselves not really interesting him, a mix mash of blushing girls and giant robots. "Yeah." The author replied, full of confidence, "I'm defs gonna be the next Hideki Anno." Lincoln knew that he had never heard of the name and decided to inquire about it, as a conversation starter. "Who's Hideki Anno?" In response to this, the author snatched the comic book, out of Lincoln's hands, and slammed it back down on top of the pile. "Pleb." He muttered arrogantly and then pretended that Lincoln had simply vanished. Very much dismayed by the chain of events, Lincoln backed away until he backed up against another person. "Auggh, I'm sorry." Lincoln said, turning round to spot a woman in bikini armour. "Ouch, I feel sorry for you kid. I may have eavesdropped on the little exchange and, I gotta say, you got really unlucky today." She said in manner that showed she was trying to be caring towards Lincoln. Lincoln, however, simply boiled as he scrambled for something to say. But the booth babe carried on regardless. "This convention got devoured by some greedy old farts. It was their decision to target teens and with bigger wallets and I guess you never caught wind of it." The buxom lady explained as she flicked her bright, dyed hair. "Oh." Was all that Lincoln could say in response. Well and truly let down.

"Yeah, it bites hard, but greedy old men gotta pay for the pills that helps them get it up at night and anyone who doesn't like it gets to deal with it." After saying this, she clapped Lincoln on the back and laughed. "Ah well, I can't complain, events like these pay the bills." A disguised southern accent was starting to come out in her voice as she talked to Lincoln. "You do you, chalkie." The booth babe said, then she winked at Lincoln, and darted for a group of adolescent males.

"What even is me?" Lincoln darkly said to himself as he stood still in a moving crowd that felt entirely too cold.

At the very least, the day didn't end in tragedy, Lincoln found Leni, her plainer clothes standing out in a sea of people who couldn't dress or were dressed in cosplay, and they made their way to a spot far away from the convention hall. "Didn't you enjoy it?" Leni asked, seemingly ready to start crying.

"Maybe next year." Lincoln answered, but didn't count on it.

"Okay, let's go to the park!" Leni shouted, having instantly cheered up.

* * *

After one more bus ride, and a fifteen minute walk later, the pair found themselves at the top of a hill. Lincoln wanted to know what he was doing out here, but he honestly wanted to get the excursion over with and go home. "Lincy!" Leni called out, perhaps momentarily forgetting that Lincoln was sat right next to her. "Yes, Leni?" Lincoln responded, present and yet miles away at the same time.

"It's hard, don't you think?" Lincoln looked up at Leni after she spoke, wondering what she was getting at. "I don't like it when things change. But, what am I supposed to do?" It seemed like Lincoln wasn't the only frustrated member of the Loud house as Leni went on quite the tirade. "I feel so stupid, when things change and I just don't know what to do about it." Lincoln understood exactly where Leni was coming from and solemnly said.

"Yeah, me too." Down at the bottom of the hill, an older and younger sibling played together. Running, shouting, and chasing each other, not even the least bit aware of how things might change. As Leni watched them, she put her hand through Lincoln's hair and softly stroked it.

* * *

The next day, things carried on as they had done previously. Lincoln woke up, did his morning exercise routine, repeated it out of boredom, chewed his nails out of frustration and got ready for the school day. Only for Lana to burst into his room. "School's out Lincoln!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Adding in a "woohoo" for good measure. "Any reason why?" Lincoln asked with a blank face.  
"Gas pipes are playing up." Lana said in a bored manner, adding, in a much more excited tone, "come on, we've got the day to ourselves." She then hurried out of the converted linen closet, loud thumping noises signalling that she was missing steps as she jumped down the stairs. Lincoln leaned back onto his bed, thinking about how to spend the day. Normally, Clyde was there to lend a helping hand; but he figured that Clyde's dads would make use of the day. Not wanting him to miss even a cancelled school day. That really left Lincoln out in a lurch. Rusty, Liam and Zach would probably spend the day playing video games for hours on end. Lincoln figured that he could do that, but it felt like a waste. He had twelve hours after all, did he really want to waste it? He asked himself.

An hour later, Lincoln had wasted his time looking for good ways to make use of his time. He had dug through piles upon piles of internet pages. Videos, articles, one-shot comics and even factoids and base questionnaires. None of which proved to do anything other than burn through the day. After doing absolutely nothing for a minute, Lincoln thought back to the booth babe and gritted his teeth a little. He held his fingers over the keyboard for five solid seconds, ultimately typing in 'bikini armour.' The results proved somewhat chaotic. Lots of girls who were just skin on bone, lots of fat man with unfocused eyes. A few, here and there, reminded him of the young woman he had met. But, Lincoln quickly realised that typing in random terms would yield less than desirable results. So, he instead focused and finding a website that catered to what he was looking for and eventually found a website that was dedicated to 'sexy cosplay.' Featuring, numerous models in various states of undress. Though Lincoln didn't realise it, his breathing had hastened and he leaned slightly closer to the laptop. His mind elsewhere, Lincoln stroked a bulge in his pants. A loud bang from one of Lisa's science experiments brought Lincoln back to reality with a jump. He realised what he had been doing and quickly blocked his door with the chest he kept underneath his bed. Sitting back down, Lincoln continued to trawl through the website. Feeling that the bulge in his pants had become uncomfortable, Lincoln yanked them off in a hurry and was met with the sight of his penis peeking out of his underwear. He pulled them down and his dick swelled as he looked down at it. Bigger than it had ever been before, warm, steadily getting harder. Gingerly, Lincoln poked it and then clasped it with one hand. It pulsated against his fingers and Lincoln's breathing got heavier. He began to make soft, stroking movements. It felt unusual at felt. Not really pleasant or unpleasant. Just a alien experience that he had happened upon. But, thoughts of the booth babe came back to his mind and his dick hardened in response, a sudden jolt of pleasure, that came after, made Lincoln kick his legs out, nearly putting his foot through his laptop.

Hurriedly, Lincoln began pumping his cock, trying to focus on every detail of the Booth Babe in his mind; he pictured his generous breasts and what they would feel like to touch, her slim, smooth, stomach, her long naked legs, her ruby lips and, finally, her eyes that twinkled as they looked down at him. The eyes in particular made his cock become as solid as a slab and ignited a spark in Lincoln as he pumped even harder. Lincoln inhaled sharply as he focused on the eyes, their colours, the long thing eyelashes and playful gaze. Before he had realised it, they were Leni's eyes, Leni was in the bikini amour, Leni was looking at him as she softly stroked his hair. A floodgate broke and pleasure leapt into Lincoln's body like fire as he came and shot his lead over his chest. Making soft, muted moans each time his penis pumped out his sperm. Lincoln leaned back as he felt the warmth of post-orgasmic bliss wash over him. He didn't even know that he had begun panting slightly, as he basked in his first orgasm.

After a couple of minutes, however, reality return, along with Lincoln's common sense. Lincoln realised he was sat almost naked, on his bed, covered in something that he only knew about from some very awkward classes. To make matters worse, he had caked his orange shirt. Panicking, Lincoln made a grab for a glass of water on his desk and dunked in down the front of his top. Deciding that, if he was going to do this, he had to do it quick, Lincoln hurriedly pulled all of his clothes back on and left his room.

Most of his sisters only laughed at Lincoln as he walked by, some ignored him, but Luna decided now was the best time to get involved. "Yo, bro! What happened to you?" She asked, not stopping her jam session as she did so.

"Oh, you know, Lisa's explosion was badly timed." Lincoln said, praying Luna would buy the excuse. She didn't, but felt that acting weird was just something Lincoln did from time to time and returned to turning the music up to eleven, as Lincoln snuck into the toilet.

Once inside, Lincoln undressed and threw his top in the bathtub. He then jumped in after it and washed himself, letting the water soak his orange shirt as he scrubbed. The shower felt good on his penis and he felt himself get hard again, forgetting himself, he started to rub his penis, especially underneath the tip. Yet, when he thought about something to jerk off too, Leni was the person that came to mind. Lincoln blushed and immediately let go of his cock. He looked down himself, lost in thought. Things were definitely changing and fast and also in ways that just seemed to pile problems on top of problems. Lincoln was reminded of when he was in the shower with Luna only a month ago and his dick jumped in response. Dismayed, Lincoln knelt down and slowly hid his face in his hands, his breathing shallow and disjointed. "Why can't things just go back to the way they were?" Lincoln whispered to himself, his voice drowned out by the running water.


	4. Chapter 4: Smitten

Chapter Four

The heat of summer rolled in the moment that June began; June also brought about unwanted guests such as final exams and pop quizzes. All things that Lincoln would sooner see the back off. The increase in homework, however, did grant Lincoln one small boon. Whenever Lincoln wasn't exercising, watching T.V or indulging in his newfound hobby, he was busy with homework and everyday, after finishing his homework, Lincoln would reward himself.

Today, because he was sure his family was at the mall, Lincoln was masturbating in the bathroom the same way Luan had three months prior. He had quickly come to understand why Luan did as she did, as the relief, made possible through masturbation, was something that just couldn't be ignored. Lincoln was lucky that he had a room to himself, Luan, however, had to make do. As he rubbed up and down his cock, Lincoln couldn't help but imagine what Luan was thinking of as she pleasured herself. He wondered what made her feel good, what made her get excited and what made her cum. Lost in the irrationality of the pursuit of pleasure, Lincoln pretended that she had been masturbating to him and that she had been waiting for him to burst in on her. Wanting to be discovered, so she could rub her clit as she remembered the moment. This proved to be exactly what Lincoln needed, as he quickly came with a slight grunt.

Upon cleaning up, a more rational Lincoln returned. "I've got to stop doing this." Lincoln said forcefully as he looked into the mirror. He believed the fleeting moments of familial desire to be a phase, that, with living in a family such as his, it was inevitable. But, that didn't make the guilt or feelings of disgust feel any better. Undeniably, however, the Lincoln in the mirror looked a lot better than the one the month before. His skin had had some colour return to it and his nails were starting to look a lot better. His hair was starting to look a little oily, but Lincoln figured that one problem at a time was enough. After rinsing himself in the shower, Lincoln ran downstairs to watch a rerun of his favourite T.V show; ARGH!

* * *

The next day, as Lincoln was putting the finishing touches on his homework, a brunette peeked her head around the door. "Hey, little Bro." Lynn said softly.  
"Lynn, if you need help with your homework, get Lisa to help you. I'm busy enough as it is." Lincoln answered dryly. Lynn didn't take to kindly to this brush-off and put a lot more force into her voice as she said. "Yeah, well, remember when I taught you how to exercise? I didn't have to do that, you know."  
"Really? We're really going to do it like this?" Lincoln replied as he put his pencil down. Lynn stared down at Lincoln; but couldn't hide her frown, after Lincoln stood up, and showed that they were of equal height. "Fine. I'll do something you want to do afterwards." Lynn said, clearly dismayed that she was reduced to bargaining. "Alright, then let's get started." Lincoln said with a slight smile as a plan formulated in his mind.

In Lynn and Lucy's room, Lincoln did his best to help Lynn. But she proved unwillingly and easily frustrated, making every question a challenge. "Why is a letter a number!?" Lynn cried out as she chewed on her pencil. "A letter should be a letter and a number should be a number, what's with all of this solve for X business" Lynn clearly wasn't going to be getting anywhere anytime soon and Lincoln was near giving up. Lynn showed that she was in the same position, as she tried to talk about anything other than homework. "How are you doing with the exercises?" She asked as she leaned back against her bedroom wall. "Better, I'm still not getting anywhere, but things are getting easier." Lincoln said as he rubbed his temples. "You know, I hated it at first, but now I'm starting to-"  
"Look forward to it?" Lynn interrupted.  
"Right." Lincoln replied, slowly breathing in and then exhaling.  
"It's going to keep on making you feel better as you get used to it." Lynn revealed and then added. "I feel terrible if I don't exercise."

"Really?" Lincoln asked, starting to really get into the conversation.  
"Yeah, I feel sluggish and lame, kind of like you." Lynn declared with a grin.  
"I better stop exercising then, I might get slow and stupid like you." Lincoln joked and smiled at Lynn who was fuming in response. "Take. That. Back." Lynn growled. Perhaps, it was because Lynn was being a pain or perhaps it was because Lynn was always being a pain; but Lincoln felt like challenging Lynn. "Why don't you make me." Lincoln said cheekily. Lynn immediately pounced off of the bed and crashed into Lincoln, knocking him to the floor. They rolled around with wild abandon, each Loud trying to force the other into a locked position. Within a short while, Lynn pulled on top and held Lincoln in place by his arms. They panted as they looked into each others eyes, Lynn blushed and that incented her to push even harder. "You going to give in?" Lynn demanded.

"I don't think so." Lincoln said and started to thrash about and fight back. In turn, Lynn yank up upwards, with full force, and pulled him into a headlock.

"Now?" She asked through gritted teeth. Lincoln couldn't reply, but didn't intend to and kicked against the floor with all of his might; knock the two back onto the floor. Though Lynn still had hold of Lincoln, she was beneath him and had to fight his full weight. She wrapped her legs around Lincoln and was just about to flip over, when a dry voice stopped her. "What are you doing?" Lucy's voice asked. Lynn immediately let go and Lincoln leapt off of her, panting as he did so. "Sports!" Lynn cried out.

"Homework." Lincoln said, as he pointed to the unfinished sheets of paper.

* * *

Upon completion of all of the homework, that belonged to both Lynn and Lincoln, Lynn slumped down, exacerbated. "That was so stupid." Lynn groaned.

"That's because you're stupid." Lincoln chimed in.

"Hey, you wanna have another go?" Lynn retorted as she jumped up, pulling up her sleeves as she did so. "Lincoln's just pointing out the facts, Lynn." Lucy said without any remorse.

"Oh I see, it's a conspiracy, you two are against me!" Lynn exclaimed, getting slightly wound up.

"If it's a conspiracy, then it's only a conspiracy that you invite." Lucy argued and then asked. "What the heck were you two doing rolling around, in here, earlier?" Seeing another argument incoming, Lincoln did his best to sneak out of the room. Just before he managed to escape, Lynn called out after him. "I plan to stick to our agreement, Lincoln!"

* * *

The day after, Lincoln was walking home from school with Clyde. "Ahh, end of the exam period, you can almost smell the freedom." Lincoln sighed.

"I feel ya bud, I was so busy with exams, I almost forget to light a candle for Lori, last night." Clyde replied, a little chipper. Lincoln realised that Clyde might have also started masturbating and a chill ran down his spine. Physically shaking the thought out of his head, Lincoln instead decided to ask Clyde to help him with the plan he conceived the day before. "Hey Clyde, I'm sorry I have to ask you, but do you mind if I borrow your bike?" Lincoln asked of his best friend, to which Clyde replied.

"Er, what the heck, sure. What are friends for?"

"You know it." Lincoln said and, as they continued their walk home, the two happily talked about the latest episode of ARGH!

One hour later, Clyde brought his yellow two-seater over to the Loud house. "Hey, thanks for doing me a favour." Lincoln said to Clyde as he got up to help him lay the large bike against the side of the house.  
"So, I'm kinda curious, what do you need this for?" Clyde asked inquisitively, to which Lincoln smiled. As if on cue, Lynn burst out the house. "Okay, I'm ready." She called out. "Man, I'm so surprised you want to go out to Detroit." Upon noticing Clyde, she also added. "Oh, hey Clyde, you coming with?"  
"I'd like to. But my dads want to go over the exam question with me." Clyde said, his voice tinged with disappointment. "Ugh, that must suck." Lynn groaned. Clyde doing his best to nod sagely in response.

"Alright, how are we going to get to Detroit?" Lynn asked to which Lincoln replied.

"You pedal us." And pointed at the two-seater.  
"What the hell Lincoln!?" Lynn screamed.

"Hey, you said you'd do what I wanted to do and I want you to pedal me to Detroit." Lincoln said slyly. Clyde, in turn, backing away from the furious Lynn.

Half an hour later, Lynn cycled the yellow bike to Detroit, muttering every curse she knew, as Lincoln sat on the backseat, like a jackass, and didn't pedal in the slightest. People driving home from Detroit were stunned by a livid girl cycling a white-haired boy, all of the way to the city, by herself. "Hey Lynn!" Lincoln called out over the traffic. "What!?" Lynn snapped.

"Maybe try to keep the bike steady, yeah?" He asked and she immediately sped up in response. Gunning for reaching Detroit in less than half an hour.

One they were in the city, shocked bystanders all stopped to look at, and take pictures off, the duo as they cycled through the city. Lincoln still being an ass and making Lynn do all of the work. "Take a left turn." Lincoln told a snarling Lynn, but she did as she was told and they stopped in front of a large building dedicated to various athletic pastimes. "Woah, I wanted to come back here. You've got money for the tickets right?" Lynn asked as she looked at the venue in awe.

"Oh, I knew I forgot something." Lincoln cried out, Lynn turning to look at him in despair. "Guess we'll have to go back and get the money." Lincoln sighed as he mockingly shrugged. Lynn nearly burst a vein, as she got off the bike, grabbed Lincoln, and started shaking him. "Lincoln!" She screamed.

"Hey, I was just kidding. I was just kidding." Lincoln cried out, causing Lynn to sigh and then punch him in the arm.

As a little well done for doing his chores, amidst his exams, Lincoln had received a small amount of money. The plan was to save it, but he quickly realised that he'd just be sitting on it and instead decided to spend it all in one go. Once Lincoln and Lynn were in, Lynn ran around as she practically drooled over the utilities on offer. Regardless, one by one, they participated in them all. The rock-climbing, bounce longue, ping-pong and baseball. Eventually, the two Louds found themselves using the indoor swimming pool.

After renting out swimsuits, the two divided as they went into separate changing rooms. Lincoln get changed into an navy blue trunks and quickly showered before he slipped into the pool area. Meeting him, at the same point, was Lynn, who dressed in a dark blue one-piece. The fourteen year old was still more reminiscent of a child than a young woman, but her muscles were starting to become more prominent. Lynn grinned, unaware aware of Lincoln checking her out, and shouted; "I'll race you Lincoln." Before jumping into the pool. Lincoln was about to cannonball, but the glare he got from the lifeguard could bring about the cold-death of the universe.

Much like they had often done when they were younger, Lynn and Lincoln raced after each other in the swimming pool. Lincoln was unable to come close to Lynn and began to try wily tricks to catch Lynn. Using other swimmers as cover, trying to cut her off and even trying to corner her. Yet, Lincoln had one last idea. He dived down to bottom and watched as Lynn's feet stalled. He expected her to come closer, but she instead dived down to meet him. They watched each other for a few brief seconds, Lynn exploding with excitement and Lincoln's mind racing with ideas for how to catch Lynn. Lynn, however, did something unexpected, she dived down closer to Lincoln, just within reach, and made a show of baiting him. Twice Lincoln tried to grab her, twice she backed off in the nick of time. On the third attempt, Lincoln grabbed at Lynn and caught hold of the top part of her swimsuit. As he yanked, the freckled skin, beneath Lynn's collar bone, was revealed. Shocked at the turn of events, the two backed off and then swam to the surface for air.

Gasping in unison as they reached the top, Lincoln turned to try and apologise to Lynn; only to instead spot her getting out of the pool and running away. Lincoln got out of the pool and wanted to run after her, but the lifeguard was staring him down with a look of righteous fury. Lincoln, feeling that he shouldn't explain if he didn't have to, gave a weak shrug and, somewhat defeated, left for the shower.

Once fully clothed, Lincoln couldn't find Lynn anywhere in the sports complex and instead found her leaning next to Clyde's bike. "Look, Lynn, I'm really sorr-" Lincoln began, only for Lynn to hush him and point at the back-seat of the bike. Once on, he helped pedal as Lynn lead them away from the complex and homeward bound.

After they arrived back in Royal Woods, Lynn surprised Lincoln by taking them past their house, showing no sign of stopping, and then behind a quiet gas station. After all of the working members of Royal woods came back from Detroit, they refuelled at whichever gas station was nearest and then the gas stations themselves, much like this one was, became nearly abandoned. Behind this one, in particular, there was not a soul in sight. Lincoln was beginning to wonder if Lynn planned on killing Lincoln. But removed that fault from his head, the two had done worse to each other after all. "Lynn, earlier, I was going to say I was sorry and I mean it." Lincoln tried to explain as Lynn got off the bike and walked a few steps away from Lincoln. Lincoln got off, as well, and slowly stepped towards Lynn. "Lynn, this isn't like you, you're scaring me." Lincoln said, his voice full of worry. He was about to put his hand on Lynn, but Lynn snapped round like a whirlwind, grabbed Lincoln by the face, and kissed him on the lips. She then let go, just as sudden, and charged off home. Leaving Lincoln in utter confusion.

* * *

The next morning, after a quiet evening where Lynn was nowhere to be found, a loud voice woke Lincoln up with a start. "Hey Lincoln! Miss me?" Cried the voice of Lynn.  
"Huh, what, who?" An entirely disorientated Lincoln mumbled.

"I bet you were so freaked out last night." Lynn said, full of pride.

"Well, Lynn-" Lincoln began, only for Lynn to interrupt him.  
"Syke!" Lynn yelled out and punched him hard enough to leave a bruise. After which she laughed, full of joy. "Ow! Hey Lynn, what the heck is with you?" Lincoln demanded to know.

"Okay, jokes over, bye!" Lynn shouted in a hurry and ran out the room. Lincoln, still in his pajamas, went after her. Only to stop the moment he heard Lucy sigh and say the word "disgusting." Lincoln froze, his white hair standing on end.

"What do you mean, Luce?" Lincoln asked, nervously.

"She was so beautifully depressed and now she's even more chipper than ever, what a waste." After she said this, Lucy sighed again and made her way downstairs. Lincoln, figuring that Lynn put yesterday out of her mind, decided that he should too. Nothing good would come of it, after all.

* * *

Later in the day, the older Louds, minus Luan, were sure to enjoy their newfound, exam-free, freedom. This left the Loud house three short of the, now usual, ten siblings. Lincoln, tired after the events of yesterday, wasted time playing browser games, until Luan knocked on the door. "Hey Linc, I was just going down to watch some comedy. Do you want to come with?" She asked politely. To which Lincoln agreed. "I've got nothing better to do. Sure."

One hour in, Lincoln found himself being lectured about how horrendous T.V adverts were. "If we have to sit through six minute breaks, can they at least make the adverts funny? I don't care if they're still a total con, just make them funny!" Giving up, Luan sighed and leaned back into the couch. She twidled her thumbs for a while, staring off into space, until she made a clicking noise and turned off the T.V. A moment of silence later, she eventually asked. "You remember that I've got my birthday party come up soon?" Not the least bit sure where Luan was going with her train of thought. "Well, I thought, seeing as you are the man with the plan. Maybe you'd like to help me plan my party." Luan did her best to positively beam after she finished speaking and Lincoln found himself getting swept along for the ride. "Of course." He said. "Whatever you want." Luan's smile grew even brighter as a result.

"Thanks Lincoln, you're a great little brother." She said and unpaused the T.V

"Sure." Lincoln whispered to himself. Maybe a year ago that statement was true, but Lincoln was stating to feel like things were rapidly warping into a gnarled and unpleasant shape.


	5. Chapter 5: Awkward Part 1

Chapter Five

The obnoxious sound of an alarm woke Lincoln from his sleep at six in the morning. Normally, he'd set the alarm for a more reasonable time. But, in July, staying in bed too late meant waking up drenched in your own sweat.

Lincoln's hand slammed into the alarm clock, but he only managed to topple the alarm clock and hurt his hand in the process. Jolting forward with a yelp, Lincoln made a dive for the alarm clock and, with much unneeded effort, managed to turn it off. His task complete, Lincoln rolled over and sighed. He enjoyed a few moments of peace until a noise, from downstairs, made it apparent that it was time for Lincoln to get up.

Downstairs, in the kitchen, Lincoln found Lori was fumbling through the contents of the fridge. "Mornin', back already?" Lincoln yawned as he squeezed next to her and looked for the milk.

"Got back at twelve, got up when I remembered that Luan has her birthday tomorrow and I literally don't have her present, yet." Lori put a heavy emphasis on the word 'yet' as she pulled out the milk, for Lincoln, and slammed the fridge door shut. "Thanks." Lincoln mumbled and then asked, "do you know what you're going to get her?" Lori pulled an avocado out the fruit bowl and set about making avocado on toast as she answered. "Can't go wrong with shoes." Lincoln nodded as he made himself cereal, unaware that Lori couldn't actually see him nodding his head. As they made light conversation, Lynn came into the kitchen with light acknowledgement of the two already in there. She stood some distance from Lincoln and only engaged Lori as she spoke. "Mornin', back already?" Lynn asked to which Lori sighed and said. "Okay, I am literally not doing this eight more times." She then left the kitchen and shouted, "hey, everybody, I came back home early!" With this done, she came back into the kitchen; in time for her toast.

* * *

After his early breakfast, Lincoln hoped for some early T.V and snuck into the living room. Only to find Lynn on the couch with the remote in her hand. "Sport's channel again? Don't you ever get bored of it?" Lincoln moaned as he sat next to Lynn, who moved over a little. "I don't know, don't you ever get tired of your comic books?" She said, her question insincere as she didn't expect a reply.

"I think I've gotten bored of them." Lincoln said quietly. But Lynn only scoffed.

"Then there's no point in talking about this. Clearly you don't love comics as much as I love sport."

Soundly silenced, and with nothing left to say, Lincoln gave up and watched sport with Lynn. Quickly finding himself bored and wishing that he could watch paint dry instead. Lynn, on the other hand, was equally frustrated and, after a few minutes of quick glimpses at Lincoln melting into the couch, she snapped at him. "Don't you have your boyfriend Clyde to go talk to, go do that instead."  
Lincoln rolled his head over and answered slovenly. "You think that's a good idea, with Lori back? He'd pass out on me if he so much as heard her voice." Lynn grinded her teeth in frustration, which gave Lincoln an idea. "Hey, who's this S.O.B with the blonde dreadlocks?" He asked. Lynn sighed heavily and answered. "Kevin Blum, star soccer player." Lincoln reply was almost immediate.

"Soccer, don't you mean football?" He asked glibly.

"No, because that's something else." Lynn retorted moodily

"But, every other country calls soccer, football. Shouldn't that other sport be called something else." Lincoln replied, clearly intent on irritating his older sister.

"Look, I don't know-" Lynn began, but was interrupted by Lincoln.

"On that matter, why do they call the baseball world series, the world series, when only American compete. Ignoring other countries that love baseball." Lynn was quickly beginning to fume. "Also, isn't wrestling fake, what's with that?" With this last question, Lynn blew up.  
"You want the T.V that much, fine!" Lynn yelled as she threw the remote at Lincoln, who nearly got hit. She then stormed off upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut. Lori, who had been watching the exchange, entered the room. "When are you going to grow up?" She asked as she picked up the T.V remote and switched on the news.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Lincoln was in his room when Lincoln's walkie-talkie buzzed. He lazily answered and through it came Clyde's voice. "This is Clyde, is this you Lincoln?"

"Yeah, Loud here." Lincoln answered dryly, having a feeling he knew what was coming next.

"Ah, you see, I was looking at the website of Lori's college and, from it, I can gleam that Lori should be home by now." There was a silence after Clyde spoke, as he waited for an answer and Lincoln was thinking of something to say to kill the topic dead. "Lori's got a part-time job, near the college, so she says she can't come home. It's hard for mom and dad to look after nine kids and put the other one through college, after all." Lincoln patted himself on the back for his nice save and, when he heard Clyde sniffing, he decided to push forward. "Yeah, we're all upset too. Now, do you wanna go to the arcade?"

"No, I got my hopes up, I'm going to take the day off. Maybe next time, buddy." Clyde answered and then shut off his walkie-talkie. "Damn it, Clyde." Lincoln exclaimed in a forced whisper as he made the motion to throw his walkie-talkie, but thought better of it.

* * *

More hours later, the day crawled forward and Lincoln had just about had it. He was no longer biting his nails, but he felt he was close to starting again. Luckily, a voice snapped him out of it. "Lincoln! Get your trunks on, the pool's full." Lana called, from downstairs. Realising that he'd take an inflated pool, packed full of his sisters, over pacing in his room any day of the week, Lincoln stripped and practically hopped into his orange swim trunks.

He ran downstairs, charged outside and was immediately shot in the face with a water gun. "Perfect." Lincoln said to himself cheerfully and played with Lana and Lynn as they shot at him with their toy pistols. The other louds were just as energetic; Lily haplessly splashed water as Lori watched over her, Leni was talking to Luan about Luan's new two-piece swimsuit, Luna rocked out, Lola worked on her tan and Lucy put sun cream on Lisa. For a while, Lincoln was happy. No plans, no schemes, just thoughtless enjoyment. However, things always change. After a while, Lincoln decided he cool off in the pool. With a nod to Luan and Leni, who were already inside, Lincoln got in and felt the heat flow out of his body. For a while, nothing was peculiar. But, as he watched Leni and Luan talk about how much they, in particular Luan, had change. Lincoln felt a stir inside his swimming trunks. Thanks to Leni he noticed things that he might not have noticed otherwise; Luan's larger hip and larger breasts, as well as Leni's slim waist and well rounded hip. As a result, Lincoln had an erection that he could only hide by staying in the pool.

A few minutes later, Leni had left, to go talk to Lori, as Luna got in and started a splashing fight with Luan. Luna had also changed and grown, mostly in the ass and legs. The years of dancing in mosh pits and on stage having apparently sculpted her into sex on legs at only seventeen. Lincoln gulped as the two got nearer and huddled himself into a small ball. After the two girls upped their game, getting water everywhere, Luna backed into Lincoln and her ass ended up on top of his knees. "Sorry, dude." Luna chuckled and then doubled her efforts against Luan, resulting in her knocking Luan's top off. Luna tried to help Luan, but she put her thick butt in front of Lincoln's face as she the two panicked. It was only a few seconds before Luan had her problem fixed, but those few second had pushed Lincoln further into puberty. His penis was straining against his trunks, the earlier stimuli had convinced his brain to send signals that made Lincoln desperate for relief. "Lincoln." Lisa's sudden and stern voice beckoned Lincoln attention. "Yeah?" Lincoln replied as he tried to move in such a way that Lisa, standing behind his shoulder, couldn't see the predicament that Lincoln was in. "I hope shyou don't mind. But shme and Lucy want to get in now." Lisa said nonchalantly as she gestured to her gothic, older sister. Lincoln looked over to Luna and Luan, who had settled down and were watching the exchange. There was no escape. No way out the situation without some degree of embarrassment; but Lincoln decided he could choose the way in which he embarrassed himself and dived between Luna and Luan. The weight, having shifted to one side, caused the pool to flip over as Luna and Luan fell backwards. This ended in three crumpled bodies, two of which were very surprised and ticked off, but Lincoln was lying face down and could still hide his erection.

* * *

After the sun started to descend, half of the Loud sisters, dry yet still in their swimsuits, were waiting in line for the shower. "I'm glad he got that pool and all, but little dude was a major bummer." Luna remarked as she waited in line for Leni to finish. Luan just shrugged in response. But, Lisa had some choice words. "In termssh of ratio, there is a higher ratio of Lincoln being weird around pools than him being normal." This earned her odd stares, until she added. "Don't think too much into it, is what I'm sshaying." Lisa readjusted her glasses before she left for her bedroom.

"I'd say it's because Lincoln's been a pain all day." Lynn gripped as she tapped her foot with increasing pace. Leni, having finished drying off, exited the bathroom and addressed her younger sisters. "Guys, Lincoln's our brother and we should trust that he made a mistake."

"Another. Mistake." Lynn growled.

"He's still our brother." Leni declared, to which Lynn turned away and sighed.

* * *

The next day, early in the morning, Lincoln switched off his alarm and got up. At first he didn't notice it, but a strange sensation in his groin made him well-aware. He had had a wet dream. No doubt in relation to the events of yesterday. Of which, he had chased away with a cold shower, only for his night to be interrupted instead. Sex-ed didn't cover this, but Lincoln knew what his ejaculate looked like and had quickly put two and two together. He sighed, groaned, rubbed his temples and sighed again. He realised that today was going to be another long day.

Thankfully, early morning starts meant avoiding his sisters and getting into the shower, pajama bottoms still on to erase the evidence, without anyone noticing. One steadfast scrubbing later, Lincoln wrapped a towel around him and made a dive back into his room. Then it was khakis on and time to get ready for Luan's birthday.

* * *

Luan, being a girl who often entertained at birthday parties, wanted something a little unusual for her birthday. Normally it was standard stuff for a clown, this year, however, Lincoln had helped her set up a mystery. After the trip out, the birthday cake and Luan had had her fill of fun outside, they returned home to watch Luan open her presents. This turned out to be a bit of a problem, as the front door had disappeared. There wasn't even a hole left behind. "I, er, could have sworn I left it here." Lynn Sr, said as he scratched his head and pondered the conundrum. Rita only shrugged as she held onto Lilly, who had fallen asleep early. "Ugh, well how do we get into our house now?" Lola whined.

"Now Lola, a good house has two points of entry!" Lynn Sr, cheerfully declared. As he led his family to the back door and found the steps to the door missing. "Well at least the door's still there." He said optimistically. "Eh, dear, shouldn't we ask Mr. Grouse if he's seen anything?" Rita queried as she watched her hapless husband try and figure things out. "That's a good idea, but right now I just want to get the kids inside and see if the pets are still okay." Lynn Sr, answered back and then motioned to Lincoln. "Come on son, stand on my back and then you can get inside." Lynn Sr, said this as he got on his hands and knees and waited for Lincoln to step on him. Lynn Sr, groaned as his son used him as a step ladder; but, thanks to his efforts, Lincoln opened the door and fell inside with a crash. "Are you okay, Lincoln?" Rita asked. No answer. "Lincoln!" Rita shouted. Still no answer.

"Let's go in after him." Lynn Sr, declared and the twelve remaining louds climbed into the house.

Immediately, they split up and checked every room in the house. Systemically being locked inside various rooms by Luan and Lincoln, who had hidden himself away. Shouting soon followed, but a microphone soon silenced the family. "Is everybody ready?" Luan asked. To which her desperate father shouted.

"Luan!? You already had April fools, isn't that enough?" Luan's reply was sinister.

"That was then, this is now." She said and began to inform the family on the game and it's rules. "You each have been locked into a room, each room has a challenge that you complete for a spare key to your room. This challenge continues until you receive the key, so I hope none of you have to go soon." After some laughter, Lincoln tapped his malevolent sister on the shoulder and the two went and prepared for the next event.

Lori and Leni were the first to complete their challenge. Their room was filled with mannequins that were wearing atrocious attire that insulted Leni's fashionista spirit. Lori, however, desperately needed to use the toilet and searched every pocket until she found the key. She unlocked the door, then ran for the toilet. But, unfortunately, it was also locked. "Whoever's in there, get out! Literally right now!" Lori shouted. Lisa, the person trapped inside the toilet, responded dryly. "Luan's puzzle has clearly been made by that nitwit Lincoln, I shcan't get the key even though I'm choosing the right option." Lisa, puzzle was a multiple choice question. "You see a turtle on its back, in the desert, what do you do?" To which Lisa kept choosing A: Ignore it, if It was meant to survive it will survive.

Luna made it out of her room next, or at least next after Lori had told Lisa the answer and then ushered her out of the bathroom. Her puzzle was also a multiple choose question. "How many people in the family like Mick Swagger?" The answer disappointed Luna. Lynn and Lucy came next, there challenge was a scavenger hunt that lead to more and more notes. Towards the end, only Lynn was still searching as Lucy had figured that she was trapped with her vampire bust Edwin and found that she had all she ever wanted. Afterward the twins, their challenge was co-operation based. Finally, the parents and toddler made it out of their room. They refused to speak about their challenge.

The game, however, hadn't stopped or ended. Luan still had one big trick up her sleeve. Just as Lynn Sr, had decided that Lincoln and Luan would come back when they got hungry, he walked into a note that was hung up by a string. The note read "we have recorded all you going through your challenges, complete one final challenge to have the evidence erased." Luna stated that she didn't really care, her heart already broken, but that still left ten louds that did.

As it so happened, the final challenge turned out to be guessing the other mole. This meant that, other than Lincoln, there was another traitor. However, with all of the Louds locked inside various rooms, it could have been anyone. "Alright, step forward, whoever does will get off easy." Lola snarled as she eyed her family. Leni, a little confused, stepped forward only for Leni to pull her back. "I hate to say it. But, Lola's right. I'll forgive whoever steps forward. This was just fun and games after all." Lynn Sr, ever the sympathiser, told his family. But still, nobody stepped forward. Eventually, Rita spoke up. "Luna, honey, I gave you ample time to tell the truth. But I wasn't going to wait forever." Luna, who had been laying on the couch, got up and asked. "How did you know it was me?"

"I'm your mother, Luna." Rita replied. Confetti was then fired into the room and Luan and Lincoln entered through the front door, as if it had been there all along. "Luan!" The family yelled, a familiar tone for the prankster. Though this time Lincoln was in the crossfire.

* * *

A few hours later, the family had settled down. The props were put in the attic, their fate to be decided upon later, and Lincoln, Luan and Luna weren't given any dinner. Luan was going to have to make some or buy some with her birthday money. She choose the latter option, taking her comrades along with her as a thanks for their efforts. "I'm still wicked bummed that only me and Dad like Swagger." Luna said as they sat inside a Chinese/Italian fusion restaurant. "You think you had it tough, I've got to fix the stairs by the backdoor." Lincoln replied as he wolfed down his dinner. Luan, with her braces happily removed, rolled her tongue across her teeth. Luna, quick to bounce back, leaned back into her chair and asked. "So, what do you guys want to do after this?" Lincoln and Luan shared a look. "Come on, you can't stop now. This is a sweet sixteenth." Luna was more than a little perplexed by the blank faces.

"What do you have in mind?" Luan asked and Lincoln nodded. Luna was quick to answer.

"The Asylum."


	6. Chapter 6: Awkward Part 2

Chapter Six

The Asylum was organised by a mad man. Hence the name Asylum, as in "the inmates are running the asylum." The Asylum itself was a large open area, in Detroit, that housed many shipping containers. But the area was almost always empty, unless an event had been prepared. The catch is that the days in which an event takes place is random; the newsletter sends out an email, on the day that an event takes place and no two events have ever been alike. The first event Luna went to was a rock concert inside a maze of shipping containers and the best seats in the house were first come first served. The second was an escape the room event, much like what Luan had enforced on her family. This one that Lincoln, Luna and Luan would participate in, however, was much more than they bargained for.

As they entered the complex, they were greeted by a man and a woman; both of which were wearing surgical masks. After Luna briefly talked with the man, who she recognised, the woman beckoned for the trio to follow her. As they did, they passed by dozens of containers, some open, some closed. But the darkness made it impossible to see into the containers either way. Eventually, they were brought to an open one and told it was theirs and that the next stage happens inside. Lincoln gulped, but Luna and Luan were much more fearless. Luan even whispering a dirty joke to Luna. Then, without further delay, the girls made their way inside, Lincoln followed after them and the container was shut behind them.

They waited inside the container, in the dark, for five minutes. After this, a light came on and they were shocked to see what was inside. The center piece was a large king-sized bed that took up half the space of the shipping container, but there was much more than a cozy bed. The interior walls were covered in sound proofing, bottles of oil and scented candles lined the floor and there was a large trunk that contained condoms, sex toys, food and water and a cell phone with only the emergency numbers on it. Luna laughed when she saw the contents of the trunk. But, Luan wasn't as amused. "It sucks enough that we're trapped in here. But we're trapped in here with our twelve year old brother!" She shouted. Luna, on the other hand, tried to play down the trouble they found themselves. "I know, this wasn't what I was expecting either, but this is just one night. We can just hide the trunk and then sleep through this." Luna explained, but Lincoln wasn't so onboard. "Just one night? Like the underground concert was just one night?" He asked, a little unsure of how to cope with the situation.

"Okay, so two of my nights out have been a bust. Best two out of five?" Luna said this without any great severity and helped herself onto the bed. "Might as well get comfy, we're in for a long night." Luna said as she patted on the space next to her. Lincoln looked to Luan, who was lost in thought. But she sighed and sat down next to Luna. "Last time I listen to any of your ideas, Luna." Luan muttered.  
"Ditto." Lincoln snapped, feeling a little betrayed.

* * *

Five minutes later, they were all laid on top of the bed. Lincoln seeing that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. "Couldn't we just call the police?" Lincoln asked. But Luna just scoffed.

"And ruin everybody else's fun? Not bleeding likely." Luna said and went back to humming a tune in her head. Luan was even more annoyed than Lincoln, but she didn't have the will to fight and instead laid on her side, away from Luna and Lincoln, trying to get to sleep. Luna, however, had different ideas. "Come on, we can't let the night end like this" She said and Lincoln and Luan replied in unison.

"It was those words that got us into this mess."

"Doesn't change the fact that, if we go to sleep now, we'll only wake up before dawn." Luna argued and the other two saw her point, though they didn't like it. "Fine." Luan said as she got up. "What do you have in mind?" Luna smiled at Luan as she pulled out a deck of cards.

"These were from the trunk." She said boldly, earning scorn from Lincoln.

"I thought we were hiding the trunk." He hissed.

"And we did, but I never said anything about the contents." Luna whispered cheerfully. Luan had almost had it with Luna, but she knew that, if the discussion became heated, Lincoln would be the most hurt. "Fine, fine. Let's just play and be done with it."

The trio sat in a triangle shape with the cards in a solid square, facing down. The rules were simple, each person takes a turn to pick a card and then direct the question on the card to a person of their choice. It was quite a juvenile game, but the people had organised The Asylum obviously didn't care when twelve year old Lincoln entered. So, it was plain to see that nothing was beneath them. Luna went first and picked up the top card from the deck. "Where would you rather be?" Luna asked Lincoln.

"Anywhere, but here." Lincoln answered immediately.

"You can do better than that, bro." Luna jested and watched Lincoln as he sighed and searched for a more truthful response. "Outer Space." Lincoln said, his boyish wonder still accounted for.

"Alright, my turn." Luan said, starting to wonder if she might get into the game. She frowned, however, when she saw the card. "Luna, does size matter?"

"Sometimes and in different ways." Luna answered quickly. Ensuring that it was Lincoln's turn in a snap. Lincoln tentatively took a card off of the top of the deck and silently read it. "Luan, how often do you masturbate?" Luan laughed in response.  
"Wow, you got that question and knew just who to ask, didn't you?" Luan replied with an embarrassed smile. At this, Luna perked up. "Come on, don't leave me out of this!" She cried out shaking Luna vigorously.

"Stop! I'm going to fall." Luan shouted. Luna stopped, but was no less interested as she sat still. "Alright." Luan said as she started to explain. "About half a year ago, I was needing some release and I thought I was alone." Luan didn't even need to finish, Luna instantly knew where the story was going and started to laugh.

"It isn't that funny, Luna." Lincoln gripped as he was forced to hear the story, the one that he felt had changed everything, being told to another person. Yet, Luna thought differently. "Yes, it is." She managed to make out through her laughter. Lincoln groaned and regretted asking the question of Luan, though the outcome may have been the same. "Oh, yeah, don't forget to answer the question, Luan." Luna suddenly said, instantly creating an awkward atmosphere.

"I'm not going to answer that question, especially in front of Lincoln." Luan retorted as she crossed her arms.

"You should or we might as well not play." Luna remarked with a solid point.

"Fine, whenever I get the chance, which is usually twice a week." Luan muttered, her words causing Lincoln to turn crimson. Luna grinned and said.

"Now I know what I should have bought you for your birthday."

Next, it was Luna's turn again. "Luan, who would you be least likely to have sex with?" She asked with a pleasant smile. "Out of the blue like that? I don't know, Aunt Ruth?" When Luan answered, Lincoln and Luna immediately shook. Though Lincoln wondered where Luan would put him if pressed on the matter. "Okay, my turn again." Luan said and picked out a card, then it was her turn to smile. "Oh, Luna, do tell me, are you an ass virgin?" After Luan had playfully asked that question, Lincoln sneezed in surprise and Luna's eyes bugged slightly as she covered her butt with her hands. "Yes." She said quietly.

"That's not a bad thing." Lincoln said, scared of being silent in this situation.  
"Of course not, but I'd rather not talk about this!" Luna snapped a bit carelessly. Though Lincoln didn't mind so much. Instead he made a reach for another card, but Luna got there first. "Ah, who knows what other cards we might get, let's put them away." She said as she collected them and sorted them.

"What's the matter, can't take the heat, Luna?" Luan jested as she watched Luna panic. Luna leaned over and whispered in Luan's ear. "What would you do if there was a card that asked who you'd have sex with out of the people in this room?" Luan gritted her teeth as she looked at a curious Lincoln, she knew that Luna was running with her tail between her legs. But, she didn't want to push on and make things even more uncomfortable for Lincoln.

The three lay in bed, counting the minutes as anxiety prevented them from being able to fall asleep. Luna in particular was struggling to get something off of her chest and, after a huff, she finally apologised. "Look dudes, I'm sorry about this. I honestly didn't think that this would happen. I just wanted my favourite siblings to have a really memorable night."

"Well, you certainly succeeded on that last part with flying colours." Luan said. Her words grinding into Luna. "But thanks for owning up to fucking up." Luan added.

"Yeah. But you have to admit, with people you want to have sex with, this would be a fun night." Luna remarked with Luan giving an audible sigh of disbelief, just before Luna added. "I mean, you wouldn't mind being trapped in here with two girls your own age, would you Lincoln?" Luna asked and Luan, who was also curious, didn't tell her off for the direct question. "You mean if I was with Ronnie-Anne and Christina?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah!" Luna chimed in.

"Well." Lincoln began. "I guess I would tell Ronnie-Anne and Christina how much I love them, how much I want to make them feel good. That I want to go to bed with them. Then I would kiss Christina and push a single finger inside of her as I do so and then I would whisper into Ronnie-Anne's ear as I push a finger into her." As Lincoln detailed his fantasy, the breathing of the two sisters started to become heavy and forced.

"Then I would kiss Christina on the neck as I stick a second finger inside of her wet lower lips and begin to pump those fingers inside of her, not forgetting of course, to bite Ronnie-Anne on the shoulder as I stick a second finger inside of her and give her the same treatment." Lincoln, lost in his fantasy, didn't notice Luna biting her lip or Luan rubbing one of her tits as he described the events.

"I would stare into Christina's eyes as she whimpered and then whisper into her ear. 'I'm going to make you feel even better, all night long.' As I use my thumb to stroke her Labia. Not forgetting to whisper into Ronnie-Anne's ear. "I'm going to penetrate you and keep going until you're a sweaty mess." As I also start using my thumb on her." Both Luna and Luan were now whimpering as they rubbed their own vaginas through their clothes.

"As I pick up speed and use more force, listening to their delighted moans. I wait for a point where Ronnie-Anne and Christina start to convulse around my fingers and then I push my thumbs underneath their clitoris hoods and rub their most sensitive point. Guiding them to climax as I tell Ronnie-Anne and Christina how much I love them." After Lincoln finished describing the fantasy, Luna and Luan started to pant as they were wrapped around his words.

But, realising he had finished, they did their best to calm down. Luna even gave out a forced laugh. "Is that what goes on in the mind of today's twelve year old? Or is my little brother just perverted?" She cried out, still panting a little. She, however, didn't receive an answer, as Lincoln simply said "goodnight" and passed out.

"Well fuck." Luna said, her face bright red with sweat running down her.

"I think that's what I'd like to do in this situation." Luan joked.

* * *

Hours later, in the morning, the container was finally opened and freedom was given to the siblings. "Fresh air!" Luan yelled as she got outside, only to be greeted with the sight of dozens of people giving each other sheepish grins. "Let's just go." Lincoln said. Seeing no reason to stick around, Luna lead them out of the complex and they caught the bus home.

Back at the Loud house, the three had been grounded for staying out all night. Rita was especially harsh on Luan and Luan, who had "dragged" Lincoln outside. Nevertheless, they were just happy to be home and in a more comfortable environment. Lincoln, despite the heat, immediately rubbed one out as soon as he got up to his bedroom and barricaded the door. Half an hour later, he had ejaculated a second time. The whole night prior had been filled with sexual tension and he was left feeling frustrated physically and emotionally. Though he had used the names Ronnie-Anne and Christina, he had actually been fantasying about Luna and Luan and he felt that, that would be the closest he would come to fulfilling his fantasy. Rationally, Lincoln knew that this was a good thing. That fantasy couldn't hurt anybody, but he was starting to want more and that left an ache in his heart.


	7. Chapter 7: Bargain Part 1

Chapter Seven

In early August, the reward of Lincoln's continued exercise was visibly paying off. Though not nearly as toned as Lynn had become in the two months prior, Lincoln's muscles had become defined and were much more solid when tense. As well as this, exercise became an enjoyable chore that was no longer the burden of the day.

On the seventh of August, Lincoln found himself admiring those changes. His eyes locked onto a mirror as he tightened his arms, gut and legs to watch his muscles constrict. He wasn't in peak physical condition, or at least peak physical condition for a recent teenager, but he was in good shape and proud of it. There was also another change. As previously alluded to, Lincoln had turned thirteen a week before now and he felt that Lincoln the boy was slowly becoming a man. Completely unaware that the biggest hurdle was puberty itself.

Nevertheless, pride gave Lincoln courage and confidence. Every night, since July, Lincoln had masturbated to the memory of his time with Luna and Luan in The Asylum. Everyday, however, Lincoln walked with his head held high. Somewhat leading a double life of the troubled Lincoln and the confident Lincoln.

Inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth, Lincoln amped himself up for the day to come. He opened his bedroom door and left his room. "Greetingsh, male older shibling." Lisa called out to him as she waddled into her bedroom.

"Morning, Lisa." Replied Lincoln and, with twelve more good mornings, Lincoln had left his house. Only to immediately run into Clyde.

"Morning, Linc." Clyde said amiably. "Is Lori in?" He also asked, as he peaked in through the windows. Lincoln simply grabbed his friend and guided them off of Loud property, a feat that was starting to get easier. "Come on Clyde, let's go-" Lincoln was about to suggest Clyde's house. But, the Lori picture collection unnerved him. He thought about the arcade, but he didn't have any money and they had been to the park a lot recently. "Well, see you Clyde." Lincoln said and walked back inside his house.

* * *

Half an hour later, Leni had driven Lincoln and Clyde down to the shopping mall and they were playing at the arcade. "You didn't have to leave me, stranded outside your house." Clyde sniffed as they played air hockey.

"I said I was sorry. Besides, I was only joking while I got Leni." Lincoln rebutted, only for Clyde to score a point against him. Lincoln sighed. "Look Clyde, we're only here, with the money for the arcade, because of Leni. Instead of getting at me, why don't you do something nice for her?" Lincoln made his point known and crossed his arms while he waited for Clyde's reply. "Well, you are right with that one. I'll go do that right now." Clyde declared and walked off, only to walk back in a minute later to ask. "What does she like?"

"If you're going to buy her a present, go get her some clothing threads." Lincoln told him and Clyde nodded with a smile, before he turned around walked out again. Though Lincoln was somewhat worried that he had just sent Clyde down the path of seeing Leni as his fallback girl, he was interrupted by Lynn jumping onto his back. "Lincoln, I need more coins!" She shouted as Lincoln buckled under the force of impact. Lynn had also decided, of her own volition, that she should also come, after Leni offered to drive Lincoln and Clyde down to the mall. Her reason being a newly made holographic baseball game. Each level won increased the difficultly, until the target became a "tiny, holographic ring of fuck in constant motion." As Lynn was now calling it. Knowing that, in his life, it was always one thing after another, Lincoln carried Lynn back to the corner; where her game was. "Dealing with you is never an easy thing, Lynn." Lincoln grunted as Lynn dropped down off of his back.

"What do you mean? I'm the best sister." Lynn said as picked the baseball bat up and prepared to swing, nearly hitting Lincoln on the head in the process. Lincoln shook his head and then inserted the coins, the game leaping to life again. "You should watch me, you might learn a thing or two." Lincoln shook his head again. "No, I need to find Clyde. Before he gets himself into trouble." Lincoln said as he looked over his shoulder subconsciously. "Your loss." Lynn said and took a swing and a miss.

Stepping out into the mall, Lincoln made a beeline for the fashion store. Finding Leni and Chaz inside. But no Clyde. He called out to Leni as he entered and, upon noticing him, Leni smiled at Chaz and met up with Lincoln. "Hey, Linc, what's wrong?" She asked in her usual cheery manner.

"Have you not seen Clyde, recently?" Lincoln asked her, the question causing Leni to pause for though.  
"No, not since we came in. Has he gotten lost?" Leni, used to getting lost herself, was sympathetic towards people who found themselves in the same predicament. Lincoln, however, wasn't as sympathetic. "We should wait here for a bit, he might show up later. If not, then we can always go see if a mall cop found him first." Lincoln told Leni, who found Lincoln's logic to infallible.

"Okay!" She exclaimed and then said to Lincoln. "You should totes give me your view on some clothes I want to try out." Then, before he had a chance to deny her, and with a great, big, smile, she takes Lincoln by the hand and very nearly drags him to the changing rooms.

* * *

The wait was a long one and Lincoln had no idea why, Leni was completely silent and Lincoln felt that he might regret asking. Suddenly, without warning, Leni pulled back the curtains and emerged. She was dressed in the same clothes except yellow; which Lincoln told her. "I know, but what do you think?" Leni asked. "It's bright, it'll attract a lot of attention. Mostly from flies." Lincoln detailed and Leni's answer was immediate. "Eww, no!" She cried and shut the curtains with a snap. After another long wait, the curtain were drawn again. This time Leni emerged wearing a blue blouse with a white cardigan and a cerulean skirt. She smiled as she waited for Lincoln's opinion. "The white cardigan is a little too far after labour day and-" Lincoln was interrupted very quickly.

"Say no more." Leni declared and disappeared back inside the dressing room. The wait this time was excruciating. Eventually, Leni's voice piped up. "Lincy, can you come in, I need your help." Lincoln looked around for Chaz and, finding him putting the mannequins in the window, Lincoln crept inside the dressing room.

The sight inside the dressing room was something that Lincoln didn't expect, he thought he had been called in to take care of a tricky zipper. But, Leni was instead struggling with a bra that didn't fit her. "Looks like I need a new bra." Leni said, clearly embarrassed by her predicament. She wasn't wrong. The bra was clearly too tight and was squashing her breasts, unable to contain them. Lincoln gulped and didn't say a word. His stare caused Leni to turn her back to him. "Lincoln, I'm sorry, but could you close your eyes?" She asked tentatively. Lincoln was just as tentative. Going so far as to stammer when he talked. "S-sure." He then closed his eyes and the sound of something dropping to the floor followed soon after. "You can open them now." Leni said and, when Lincoln did, he found that Leni was backed into the corner. She politely asked. "The bra is on the floor, can you go get another one? With a larger number on the tag?" And Lincoln nodded, forgetting that Leni wasn't facing him, and left the changing room.

Sneaking around Chaz, Lincoln made his way into the bra aisle. Not sure what he to get, he picked up the first thing that was in the size up and brought it back to Leni. Leni was still topless and still hiding in the corner, upon hearing Lincoln enter, she held out one arm for the bra; while the other arm covered her breasts. After fumbling around, she managed to take hold of bra and look at it. Only to then thrust it back into Lincoln's chest, causing her own chest to ripple slightly. "Ew, stop!" Leni cried out. "That's a fashion nightmare." She added. Lincoln looked at the drab, grey bra and could see why. It probably wasn't to sell very well. Lincoln quickly said. "I'll go get a better one." And rushed out. Only to find himself helping Leni trying on an assortment of new bras. Leni becoming more and more comfortable with being topless in front of Lincoln, until he was able to see everything. Her naked nipples, the breasts shake as she put the bras on and bounce as after she took them off. Eventually, Lincoln brought her a bra that caused Leni jumped for joy, causing her breasts to follow her in a delayed motion. "Oh, Lincy, that looks totes perfect." She happily put on the sky blue bra and it immediately pushed her breasts together, making them more pronounced. "Totes feel perfect too." She added once the bra was in place. Lincoln, meanwhile, was mentally thanking his jeans for constraining his erection. Leni was smiling as she picked a top of the rack, but she then realised that Lincoln was still there. "Do you mind, I'm changing." She said in an accusatory tone. Causing Lincoln to apologise and run out the changing room.

* * *

An hour later, after paying for the clothes, Lincoln and Leni left the store and found Lynn with Clyde in tow. "Clyde? Where have you been, buddy?" Lincoln asked, having expected his best friend to arrive ages ago. "I found him wandering aimlessly." Lynn said as the downcast Clyde rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "That still doesn't explain where you've been." Lincoln said, a little perplexed by the situation. "Aw, you didn't get lost, did you?" Leni said sympathetically.

"No, not at all." Clyde said as he waved his hands in denial. "But, I went to the fashion shop, to find Leni, and she wasn't there." Lincoln brought up a hand to rub his temples.

"She must have been in the changing rooms, when you walked in. You should have just waited." Lincoln explained. Lynn shrugged and simply clapped Clyde on the back. "Sucks to be you, time to go home." She declared, then walked off. Leaving Clyde with Leni and Lincoln. "Oh, before I forget." Clyde said and handed a coupon. "Ouu, thank you." Leni cooed as she took it. Not exactly sure what it was. "I wanted to thank you, for taking me and Lincoln out and for driving us and for giving us spending money and for-" Clyde seemed likely to go on forever, so Lincoln tapped him on the shoulder and pointed after Lynn. "We should go."

* * *

That very night. Lincoln was adding to his personal shame album, as he masturbated feverishly and bit into his pajama top to cover his moan during climax. He curled his toes as he sighed during the post-orgasmic bliss. But, frowned when the feelings of self-loathing came to Lincoln. It wasn't enough that he lusted after a family member, he had masturbated to Leni, Luna and Luan and could also vividly remember the feelings of Lynn's kiss. He traced a finger over his lips, the same as the night after he had kissed Ronnie-Anne. Guilt, shame, these things bubbled within Lincoln as he covered his head with his pillow and did his best to fall asleep.

Waking up, feeling exhausted, Lincoln cleaned up and washed himself clean of his misdeeds and the turmoil that came with them. When he stepped out of the shower, he was the confident Lincoln again. Inhaling and exhaling, Lincoln got dressed, left the bathroom, and walked into Leni. The two of them falling over. "Sorry, Leni." Lincoln said in a momentary daze. When his mind became clearer, he looked down at Leni and saw her looking up at him. "Aren't you going to get off me, Lincoln." She said and Lincoln jumped and apologised again. "It's okay, these things happen." Leni said as Lincoln helped her up. Lincoln's mask of confidence failed him and in the brief moment that it was gone, he stood there awkwardly and Leni shrugged and slipped into the bathroom.

As lunchtime rolled around, the Louds all sat at the dinning room table. The AC having broken again. "This sucks." Lori dryly exposed as she cooled herself down with a fan.

"Lori, you're makeup's running." Lucy retorted.

"What!?" Lori shouted and got out a mirror, only to see that everything was fine. Lucy got a small chuckle out that, especially when Lori growled in frustration. "Swimming pool?" Lincoln asked, a little confused as to why none of his sisters had gotten it out and filled it, yet. His answer came quickly.

"Last time we got that out, I ended up eating mud." Luna said darkly, clearly having not forgiven him yet. To which, Lincoln shrugged.

"More room for me than." He said as he went to get the inflatable pool ready. The other sisters watching him leave.

"Mud's not so bad." Lana said with a half smile, a little more willing to deal with mishaps than her feminine sisters.

Upon filling the pool, Lincoln jumped in, still wearing his everyday clothes, and sighed as the water chilled him to the bone. Mere minutes later, his sisters came out of the house in their swimsuits. "Okay, Lincoln, we're sorry." Lori said as they crowded round him.

"That is to say, even if you flip us into the mud, we'd be less happy if we had to stay inside and boil to death." Lucy's voice ebbed out slowly. Every syllable disappointing Lincoln.

"Gee guys, thanks for the vote of confidence and display of overwhelming compassion." Lincoln said as he got out the pool. But, he didn't want to argue the point with his family. It was their beef, not his; after all. "I'll be back in a bit." Lincoln said and ran off into the house.

"Where's he going." Luan said with a raised eyebrow. Only for Lori to exclaim.

"Who cares pool's empty!" Prompting the Louds to dive in all at once.

Lincoln came back down, in his swim trunks, as if nothing had happened and waved off questions that were thrown his way as he slipped into the pool, next to Lily, Lucy, Lori, Lana and Lola. Lincoln, however, had come prepared for a case of accidental erection. Having tied his penis to his left leg. Though, it might not be called accidental this time around. This time around, Lincoln expected stimulation and didn't feel he should go out of his way to avoid it. Did Lincoln feel bad? Yes. Would he be wrought with guilt come nighttime? Definitely. But, Lincoln was wearing a mask right now and his desire for some of his older sisters was the only thing that bled to the forefront. Not that Lincoln was seeking this out. Even when hiding behind a mask, he knew how crazy it was to lust for family members. All he had to do was relax and it might even be that nothing of note happened, which was a far better option. Though not the one that Lincoln wanted.

* * *

Time passed, but the heat stayed. People got into the pool, people got out of it. Soon, just like at the mall, he was stuck with Leni and Lynn. The skin on Lincoln's fingers had shriveled, but he didn't care. With his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. He listened to Leni's voice and picture her topless, like she was at clothes store. Except, with water glistening down her breasts and right beside him. His penis stirred, but was constrained and was forced to move down one pant leg. Lincoln simply covered it up with a foot and basked in his fantasy. Only for Lynn to ruin it. "Chicken fight! I call Lincoln!" She shouted. Lincoln's eyes shot open and he saw Lynn move in and start to pull him to his feet. This was a disaster, Lincoln knew he had to get off this situation. Because, once again, his plan had gone belly-up and he was left to pick up the pieces. "Maybe it's to-" Lincoln began, but Lynn was having none of it and she spun him round and jumped on his back. "This is becoming a thing with us, isn't it." Lincoln thought to himself. He looked down and saw that his erection had softened, somewhat and was less visible. Lincoln realised that he could get through this, all he had to do was avoid stimulation. He turned round and immediately met his match. Luna was climbing onto Leni's back. Her breast's jiggling as did so and, when she climbed on top, Leni came to wear Luna's juicy thighs as earmuffs. "Dang it, Luna. Where have you been hiding all of that flesh?" Lincoln asked internally as he felt his erection begin to stir again. To make matters worse, the others gathered round as they went to cheer on the combatants.

When the fight began, it was clear that Lynn was definitely stronger. But Luna was a lot taller and Leni, unlike Lincoln, wasn't even fazed by her rider's weight. As the parties fought it out, Lincoln found himself trapped; trapped beneath Lynn, whose muscles tightened around Lincoln with every movement, trapped in front of Leni, who he had just been fantasying about and trapped across from Luna. Who now looked even better than all of those nights he had spent masturbating while thinking of her. There was no controlling his erection now, he could only hide it. So, even though it gave him a weakened stance, he closed his legs together, hoping that would be enough. Having done this, however, his team lost within another minute as he lost balance and toppled over with Lynn. The others cheered and congratulated the Leni/Luna team. Whilst Lynn picked herself up off the garden floor. "Well, I guess someone did eat mud." Lynn said as she spat mud out of her mouth. Then she saw it, Lincoln's erection. The string that tied it had come off during the fall and this allowed the once caged penis to push up against Lincoln's trunks. Feeling the sensation of his penis against his trunks, Lincoln quickly guessed what Lynn was staring at. He watched her, as she watched him. The nightmare situation that Lincoln had feared was right in front of him. He didn't just look like a deer in headlights, he was a deer in headlights and the car coming to run him over became much more apparent with the sound of Luna's voice. "Oh yeah, it's time for the losers to watch Leni and Luna Loud! do the victory dance!" Lincoln shut his eyes tight and prepared for his life to change beyond repair. But, Lynn came to his rescue. Jumping in front of him, giving him time to scuttle back and cross his legs. "Hey, what's up Lynn? You look like you just lost a game of baseball." Luna asked. Since Lincoln couldn't see Lynn's face, he couldn't see that Lynn's mouth was like an upside down magnet and that her eyes were bulging. The problem was, though she had saved the day for Lincoln, Lynn didn't have a good poker face and was a terrible liar and that made for a vicious circle. "Snake!" She cried out. But her alarm didn't have the effect she wanted, as the other sisters just stared at her.

"Lana, did your snake get out again." Lori asked.

"I don't know." Lana replied with a half-measure shrug.

"Well, go look for it!" Lori demanded. Lynn watched the exchange as she sweated bullets, the effect may have been different. But, when Lynn turned to look at Lincoln, she realised that he was gone.

* * *

Night arrived, Lincoln waited for the death penalty and it came at one o'clock in the morning. Lynn, without any noise or warning, simply slipped into Lincoln's room and looked straight at the white haired, pale faced boy. "Was it because of me?" She asked, without any introduction or any explanation. Yet, none was needed. "Some of it was." Lincoln answered truthfully, he felt that it was too late to hide anything. "Tell me who." Lynn demanded.

"You, Leni and Luna." He answered, her fists clenched. But she didn't move an inch otherwise.

"Why?" She asked. This was the loaded question and there was no way around it. Lincoln decided to take the gun and shoot himself with it. "I've been attracted to Leni, Luna and Luan for months now. I've even masturbated to them, numerous times and I never forgot when you kissed me." Lincoln explained all of this and he felt the pain of ripping off the mask of confidence. In its stead, was the Lincoln that felt shame and self-loathing for his actions. Tears welled up. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Shut up." Lynn said.

"I'm really sorry." He cried softly.

"Shut up, Lincoln." She hissed and Lincoln fell silent. Lynn stood there watching him. Though they were the same size, Lincoln was currently a lot smaller as he sat on his bed. A silence built up and then Lynn shattered it with the words that changed Lincoln's life forever. "If you do everything I tell you to do. I'll help you get what you want." Lynn told Lincoln and his heart leapt into his mouth. She stared at him, expecting a reply and, when he was able, he slowly nodded. "Good." Lynn declared, releasing her fists. "Good night, Lincoln." Lynn said and left the room.


	8. Chapter 8: Bargain Part 2

Chapter Eight

Six hours after Lynn had dropped the bomb that kept Lincoln up all night, the alarm clock began wailing and it's wretched noise added salt to the wounds. No matter what, his life was now in the palm of Lynn's hands. Lincoln may as be an ex-human being, a husk for Lynn's machinations. Not that Lynn was a particularly good schemer, which was what made it all the more frightening.

Regardless, life continued and Lincoln left his room and headed for the kitchen. Like a normal human being, he had breakfast, he talked to the other early risers and he did his chores. But, even through all of this, he could feel Lynn watching him. It was only a matter of time until she approached him and when she did, she simply told to "meet her in the park in twenty minutes." And, if he didn't want his secret to be spilled, along with his guts, he knew that he had to do exactly as he said.

So, within twenty minutes, he arrived at the park and Lynn arrived shortly after. Curiously, she had two baseball gloves and a baseball. "All right, let's play ball!" She shouted with her usual sporty enthusiasm, as she threw a glove over to Lincoln. After a few brief moments, Lincoln found himself playing catch with Lynn. As if nothing had changed. Lynn cheered him on, bemoaned his failings, and eventually he forgot himself and started to have fun. Then Lynn pulled out the rug from underneath Lincoln. "So, which one do you want to go after first?" She asked, after launching the ball, and the shocked Lincoln got hit on the head with it.

"What!?" He cried out.  
"You heard me, now go get the ball." Lynn replied in a matter of fact, manner. Lincoln quickly found himself picking up the ball like a dog. "So, tell me already. Which one?" Lynn wasn't taking silence as an answer, Lincoln would have to tell her.

"I never thought about it, because I didn't want to act on those thoughts." Lincoln explained as he threw the ball to Lynn and she caught it effortlessly.

"Well, that doesn't matter now. So, pick one." Lynn demanded as she rocketed the ball towards Lincoln; even with a glove, catching the ball made his hand sore.

"It all started with Luan." Lincoln finally answered.

"Then we'll start with Luan." Lynn answered then she rudely said. "Ball." And gestured for Lincoln to throw it to her, which he did. Though, suddenly, he didn't feel like playing any more. "You're talking about doing something that shouldn't be done." Lincoln said firmly, still hoping that this problem of his would just go away.

"So? When have I ever cared about stuff like that?" Lynn retorted and threw the ball back.

"Maybe this time you should." Lincoln said, as he caught the ball.

"I don't think so." Lynn answered with a shake and, when Lincoln threw the ball, she caught it and threw it back in one stroke. Easily showing her physical superiority over Lincoln.

"Fine. How do we do this?" Lincoln asked.

"Now that's more like it, Lincoln." Lynn said with a smile, only to rudely add. "Throw the ball, Lame-o."

An hour later, Lynn and Lincoln were back at the house and nobody was any wiser. "Are you sure about this?" Lincoln whispered into Lynn's ear, as he passed her on the stairs.

"Just. Do it." Lynn hissed and the two then pretended that the exchange had never happened, as Lincoln made his way into Luna and Luan's room. "Hey, little bro." Luna called out.

"Hey Linc, I see you've sweat your match in Lynn." Luan jested and laughed, causing Luna to groan.

"Hey, Luna. Hey, Luan. I've come to-" Lincoln began, but instead took his shirt off. Luna and Luan gave each other a puzzled look. "Sorry, I feel a bit hot after hanging out with Lynn. Anyway-" Lincoln interrupted himself to start scratching himself. "Anyway-" Lincoln made out as if there was an itch that he couldn't scratch. Luna and Luan were starting give each other hand gestures, openly. "Ahh, Luan, I'm sorry. Could you scratch my back, while I talk to you? I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, Linc. Come sit down here." Luan answered as she pointed in front of the bean bag. She got on and started to scratch his back. "Thanks Luan, that was killing me." Lincoln declared.

"No problem, Linc." Luan said gingerly. Luna was in total disbelief and didn't take an eye of the pair, as she strummed her guitar on the top bunk bed. "So, what was it you wanted to ask?" Luan herself asked.

"Hmm, oh yeah. Have you met any interesting people, at any of your comedy venues?" Lincoln questioned. To which, Luan curtly replied. "Yeah, my audience."

"I see. Well, my teacher said that there was an actor that had been visiting a few of them around here. A Canadian heartthrob, she said." Lincoln explained and then declared his actual point. "I just wondered if you met have meet someone, by that description."

"That doesn't narrow it down, in the slightest." Luan answered and then she stopped scratching Lincoln's back.

"I see. That's a shame. Anyway, thanks Luan." Lincoln waved at the two and then disappeared from the room. Just before he got out of earshot, he heard Luna exclaim. "Well don't look at me, I don't know what that was about, any more than you do!""

In Lynn and Lucy's room, Lynn had Lincoln had a punching bag still; while she wailed on it. "Where's Lucy?" Lincoln asked, expecting her to appear from the shadows at any moment.

"Hiding in one of her dark places, she doesn't like the sound of me hitting these things." Lynn answered as she kept controlled and precise punches. "So, tell me everything." Lynn demanded, not stopping for a moment. As her punches were being used to drown out the conversation.

"Well, I took off my shirt. Got funny looks. Asked for a back scratch, got one from Luan and even funnier looks. Made up some excuse for being there and left." Lincoln explained, though it was difficult for him to do so; through all of Lynn's punches. "Yeah, that's how I thought it would turn out." Lynn replied.

"Then, why did I do it?" Lincoln said through gritted teeth.

"Because, it would have been bad if it didn't turn out the way I thought it would." Lynn declared and then added her reasoning. "We had to check if Luan was comfortable with you showing skin and if she would do something if you asked it off her."

"That's exactly what any sister would do for her younger brother!" Lincoln cried out.  
"Which is why it would have been bad if she didn't do that." Lynn explained and then added a high kick to her pattern.

"So, what now?" Lincoln asked his older sister.

"I don't know, I don't have a boyfriend and I don't have a degree in sexing up your older sister." Lynn growled. After which, they remained silent for some time as Lynn's fists had more and more power put behind them. Eventually, she said. "Let her catch you masturbating."

"What!?" Lincoln yelped with a voice crack.

"When we were in the park, you said that you caught her masturbating. So, let the shoe go onto the other foot. Then you'll both share a secret and an experience." Lynn explained and then punched the punching bag hard enough to knock Lincoln onto her bed. "Sorry." She said as she helped him up.  
"I don't want to do this." Lincoln moaned.

"I want you to and that's all you need to know." Lynn told him as she gave him a fierce stare into his eyes.

It took a week for the plan to be put into action. With so many people inside the house, at all times, it was a miracle that it happened at all. But, Lynn and Lincoln had been working behind the scenes to ensure that Lincoln was left alone with Luan, again. Eventually, the plan came together during "Take your daughter to work" day. Luan had wanted to come, however, Lincoln had paid a comedy club to ring the Loud house and ask Luan to come in for noon. Meanwhile, Lynn had told their mother, Rita, that Lincoln wasn't feeling well and needed to stay at home. She did this out of earshot of the others, as they would want to stay behind and look after him. All of this planning gave Lincoln a couple of hours for him to be caught masturbating. The problem was, Lincoln walking in on Luan was a quirk of fake. Lincoln had no idea when Luan would need to go to use the bathroom. So, Lincoln ended up spending the two full hours masturbating without going far enough to cause a climax. When Luan did eventually walk in, needing to do her make-up, Lincoln was a sweaty mess that was ready to explode. Luan yelped when she saw him and, after thinking about her for two hours straight, her presence alone was enough to make him cum. Semen sprayed into the air and landed on Lincoln's chest. Luan watched every spurt and then slammed the door shut.

Like she had done several months prior, Lincoln simply washed, put on deodorant, got dressed and left. Finding Luan in front of the door, tapping her foot. "I thought you were smarter than that, Lincoln." She said in a harsh tone.

"And I thought you left, why are you still here!?" Lincoln shouted.

"Just what time do you think it is, Lincoln? Wait, never mind, don't answer that, clearly you thought it was time to jerk it out, whilst the others were away." Luan argued and just before Lincoln could make a rebuttal, Luan walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. Lincoln knew that he should leave it there, but embarrassment and frustration welled within. "Like you're any different, Luan!" He yelled and a loud bang at the door was Luan's reply.

That afternoon, Lynn came back and wanted to hear about what happened; while she made hold the punching bag again. "This doesn't feel right." Lincoln moaned as Lynn continued to pummel the bag.

"Good, it shouldn't." Lynn shot back at Lincoln. But, she didn't seem ready to let up. "Now, that that's sorted. Luan needs to see you as boyfriend material. A hard thing considering you, but we'll pull through. Somehow." After Lynn detailed the next step, Lincoln asked in response.

"So, how do we do that?" And Lynn's reply was immediate.

"I don't know, you're the man with the plan, so plan."

Over yet another week, Lynn and Lincoln planned the next step. Lynn being the girl and therefore more "qualified" to know what a girl wanted in a boyfriend. Lincoln had to step up to her demands and also plan for more opportunities to spend time alone with Luan. This meant that a lot of Lincoln's time was spent at the comedy clubs. So much so, that Lincoln even got a part-time job with the one that Luan frequented the most. Making sure to arrange the timetable to, as best as possible, always coincide with Luan's gigs. Lynn made sure that Lincoln saved up the money, as well as making sure that he doubled his exercises. By the end of the week, Lincoln was exhausted. Yet, he did have a plan in mind.

When all of the family were at the table for breakfast. Lincoln pulled out a magazine and openly asked. "One of the parks just started renting out rowing boats and I really wanted to go with someone, can I please go with one of you guys?" Twelve heads turned to look at Lincoln like he had just been speaking gibberish. "Those are for couples, Lame-o" Lynn said as she leaned over and looked at the magazine. Though, only Lincoln was aware that Lynn was planting an idea of the event being a romantic one in everybody's minds. "I know, but Ronnie-Anne isn't here and I'd feel embarrassed to go with Clyde. Luan, could you come with me?" Lincoln weaved his words wisely, the manipulation leaving a bad taste on his mouth. But, he had become desperate for Luan and Lynn still had his balls in a vice. "Why me?" Luan cried out. Thankfully, however, Rita answered for Lincoln. "Lincoln's been going to a lot of your comedy clubs, why don't you go with him. Even if you just humor him." Lynn Sr, also added.

"It's only a couple hours out of your day. After all." Luan simply slumped in response and huffed. Clearly not finding the act of being roped into a romantic date on the pond funny.

The next day, Lincoln found himself rowing a white boat; while Luan sulked on the other end. "The water looks pretty, as the sun hits it, don't you think?" Lincoln asked Luan, trying to set the mood.

"Yeah, sure." Luan responded, her head slumped onto one hand. For the occasion, Lincoln dressed to impress and Luan came out dressed in her usual attire. She even had a goulash stain on her collar. "Why don't you tell me a joke, Luan?" Lincoln asked.

"What do you call a fat bird? A puff-in." Luan said, but didn't end her joke with a laugh as she usually does. "Not one of your best." Lincoln said, earning a glare from Luan. "Luan, I'm sorry. I asked you, because I thought, out of everybody, you'd enjoy this the most." Lincoln tried to soften Luan's mood, but her temper flared instead. "Why would you think that?" She snapped.

"Because, we can relax out here and people watch. Isn't that a good way to get some material?" After Lincoln had finished speaking, Luan softened a little.

"I just don't like being controlled. As a comedian, it's always on someone else's whim, whether or not I get to keep doing the things I love doing. I had hoped that my little brother wouldn't use mum to control me." Luan slumped down and crossed her arms around her legs after she explained herself. "So you knew?" Lincoln asked.

"It was obvious to anyone who wasn't called Lynn and Leni." Luan rebutted.  
"Fair enough. But, that's because I always like spending time with you and I was worried that you wouldn't want to spend time with me, because of everything that happened." At these words, there was a silence. Lincoln wanted to break it, but he didn't know what else to say. Right now, he was, in a small area of his heart, wishing that Luan snapped at him, so that he could call the whole thing off. But, Luan smiled instead. "Boy, Lincoln. Maybe you have the hots for me." She joked and then laughed, Lincoln didn't join in. "Okay, fine, bad joke." Luan said, thinking that Lincoln's silence was a sign of disapproval. Instead, Lincoln asked Luan a question.

"Luan, would you like to do this more often?"

"I'd get bored of this pond, pretty fast." Luan answered with a grin.

"No, I mean-" Lincoln begin, only for Luan to interrupt him.

"I know what you mean, Lincoln. But, sure, I don't really get much time to spend with anyone on a one-on-one basis aside from Luna and a few friends. It should be fun." Lincoln smiled in response, as the boat drifted around in lazy circles.

After they got home, and when midnight approached, Lynn snuck into Lincoln's room. "So, how did it go?" She asked in a whisper.

"Good, Luan said she'd be up for spending more time with me." Lincoln responded.

"It all gets difficult from here on out." Lynn whispered.

"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, Luan will always think of you as a younger brother. That's the barrier we have to get around."

Lincoln mulled over Lynn's words, but nothing came to mind. "Any ideas?" He asked, causing Lynn to roll her eyes.

"Small gestures, from here on out. Compliment her, ask her what she likes, what kind of men she likes and give small displays of affection. Holding hands is a big deal." Lincoln nodded at Lynn's every word. Then she said. "I'm done for the day, we pick this up tomorrow." Lynn left as quietly as she had came. Leaving Lincoln alone with his thoughts. He felt small, weak and powerless and not just because he was giving in to Lynn. But, mostly because he was giving in to himself.


	9. Chapter 9: Puppet

Chapter Nine

When September came, the Loud house once again found themselves one Loud short. Lori decided to return to college early, against Leni's wishes, in order to prepare academically for her second year of college. As a result, talk of the future became the popular topic for the Loud family and Lincoln couldn't escape it.

Regardless, there was a bigger change slowly taking shape amongst the Louds. Since late August, Lincoln and Luan had gone out together multiple times. They had grown closer together, as a result. With Luan coming to look forward to the time spent together. Though, she did find Lincoln's more sudden actions, such as touching her shoulder and holding her hand, weird. She believed that he was simply just going through a phase that ran more on the needy side.

Luan couldn't, however, be further from the truth. Lynn had instructed Lincoln to do exactly as she said. Leading to the random bouts of physical affection. It was all part of their combined plan, Lynn told Lincoln what he needed to do and Lincoln found ways to do it. She didn't always understand why things had to be done in a certain way, but she wholeheartedly believed that they had to be done and, lucky for Lincoln, it was working.

* * *

One night, Lynn came to Lincoln's room, as was becoming more and more usual for her to do, to discuss the next part of the plan. "Time to change things up." She said without a lead in and Lincoln was rightly confused. "Luan needs to come to realise that you're someone she wants on her own terms. That means making her jealous." She explained as she leaned against the bedroom counter.

"You mean, make her jealous so that she realises that she wants me?" Lincoln asked timidly.

"Duh, so now you've got to do everything you've done with Luan a second time. Except, this time, with somebody else instead."

Lincoln laid awake long into the night. Worried about how all of this would turn out, but also thinking of which sister he wanted to spend more time with. He could always spend time with Lynn, she was helping him in all of this, but Lincoln had been under her thumb for a month and decided that he wanted some time away from her. Leni was also a option, but she was still upset about Lori and that meant he'd end up listening to her talk about missing Lori for hours on end. This pretty much left only Luna. Fun loving crazy Luna.

* * *

A weight on his chest caused Lincoln to wake up with a start, nearly headbutting Lana as he lurched forward. The moment that Lincoln woke up, Lana jumped down off of his chest and air flowed back into Lincoln's body. "Lana, you're nearly eight, you can't keep doing that." Lincoln groaned as he rubbed his sore ribcage.

"Sorry, Linc. But, you weren't getting up." Lana grumbled in response, only to then start pulling on Lincoln's arm. "Come on, Lincoln, it's gone past noon already!" Lana exclaimed, but jerked forward when Lincoln rolled onto his side; pulling her with him. "Wow, you got even stronger!" Lana cried out in amazement, as she struggled to move Lincoln a nanometer. "Lana, let me sleep." Lincoln huffed, trying to ignore the tomboy yanking on him.

"Aww, Lincoln, it's been ages since you've played with me and Lola." Lana griped and started to shove Lincoln.

"Fine." Lincoln grumbled as he gave in. He then rolled onto the floor with a thud, Lana barely getting out of the way in time, and slowly got onto his feet. He yawned as he stretched, Lana rolling her eyes at the dramatic display. Then a smile crept onto her face as a light bulb lit above her head. "Tag, you're it!" She yelled as she poked Lincoln mid yawn. As Lincoln keeled over from shock, Lana made her escape and ran out of Lincoln's bedroom.

The little blonde scamp fled from Lincoln's room with the white haired teen chasing after her. "Luna, chase music!" Lana yelled and the rocker immediately started belting out a tune that infused haste into the scuffle. It was an equal match, Lana's small child-like stature and Lincoln's strength meant that the two ran back and forth; along the upstairs hallway. Eventually, Lincoln's problem-solver mindset came into play and, when he was within reach, he knocked off Lana's hat. Causing the tomboy to make a grab for her prized possession, allowing to catch her and lift her into the air. "No fair, you cheated!" Lana cried in vain.

"Seems fair to me, you got a head start and I yanked the finish line a little closer." Lincoln rebutted, only for Luna to come in as the peacemaker.

"Dude, she's seven." The maturest sister in the house told Lincoln, hoping to drill some of her maturity into his brain.

"Oh, really, how can a seven be an astronaut?" Lincoln asked and he lifted Lana high above his head. She laughed, but was clearly nervous.

"Okay, Lincoln, please don't keep me up here too long." She pleaded and Lincoln slowly brought her back down to earth.

"A safe landing, welcome back to earth, Lana." Lincoln joked, as Lana sighed and picked up her hat.

"I wish every landing was that easy." Lana said with a big smile, then she put her hat back on and charge back into her room. Lola's screams following shortly after.

Luna came up behind Lincoln and tapped him on the shoulder. "You could learn a thing or two from the little dudette." Luna told her younger brother, his chest tightening as reality clawed its way back into Lincoln's life. Trying his best to not let anything become apparent, he asked Luna. "Would that be the part where Lana moves from one game to the next, without a care in the world?"  
"You got it in one, little bro." Luna answered with a click of her fingers.

"Well, you see, I don't think that can really be learned." Lincoln replied as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hmm, well that ain't my problem. See you later, dude." With these words, Luna slipped back into her own room. Lincoln, suddenly finding himself alone, crept inside of Lynn and Lucy's room.

* * *

"I think we should call this off." Lincoln told Lynn, in front of Lucy no less. The goth, with her interest slightly piqued, lifted her head up from her book.

"He's talking about a game of catch." Lynn explained to her roommate and the goth immediately lost all interest, diving back into her book.

"I'm serious, Lynn." Lincoln told her and Lynn, surprisingly, laid back on her bed and shot a basketball at the hoop near her bed.

"That's fine." Lynn said. Not even looking at Lincoln.

"Wait, what?" Lincoln blurted out in shock. But, Lynn just gave a dramatic sigh.

"I give you a week before you're back here, I'm the only one you can trust; after all." These words caused Lincoln to shudder, they were the truth after all and even though Lucy had blocked reality from her mind, the fact that Lynn would say such a thing in front of someone else spoke of just how confident she was. With one sentence, she had pinned him down; better than any of her wrestling moves. "I'm sorry, forget everything I just said." Lincoln whispered, not loud enough for Lynn to hear over the sound of the basketball. But, with his slumped form, she didn't need to hear him. After he left the room, with a rain cloud above his head, Lynn caught her basketball and begin to savagely punch it. Lucy had no choice, but to notice this. "What are you doing?" Her monotone voice asked.

"Hey, Lucy, you read a lot of sad books, filled with heartbreak, yeah?" Lynn asked through gritted teeth, now squeezing her ball.

"Of course." Lucy answered, not sure where her jock roommate was going with any of this.

"I'm guessing most of them don't have happy endings." Lynn forced out through her clenched teeth.

"That's right." Was the answer and Lynn dived under her pillow.

* * *

Lynn was the only one that Lincoln could trust, those words meant a lot more than they would initially seem. On the surface level, Lynn had just told Lincoln that the two had a secret and Lynn was the only person he could trust with that secret. But, dig a little deeper, and it became apparent that Lynn had just told Lincoln that he wouldn't be able to stop himself and Lynn was right. Even though it was an accident the first time. The second time around, when the Loud sisters had gotten in a pool in there swimsuits, Lincoln had entered with the intention of becoming aroused by his family. With or without Lynn, he couldn't help himself anymore. Lynn was just the stick, Lincoln's own nature; his desire for his older sisters was the thing that truly drove him. This frightened Lincoln to his very core, but it did raise an excellent question. What did Lynn have to gain from guiding Lincoln down this path?

In his room, Lincoln traced his right index finger along his lips. The answer seemed a little obvious, when asking the right question. But it was a flat, two-dimensional answer. It didn't explain why, when and for how long. The only thing that Lincoln could figure out, was that, if Lincoln had another confidant, Lynn would lose her power over him. If Lynn desired Lincoln the same way that Lincoln desired Luan, Luna and Leni, then she'd fight to have that power over him again and that would finally give Lincoln a chance to find the answers to some of his burning questions; about his sporty older sister.

Luna was still the next goal, she was now the oldest Loud, mentally speaking, in the siblings. As well as, the most easy going. If anyone could help him, Luna would be it. Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief, even if he was still doing something that was irredeemable, at least it was now by his terms. With that in mind, he marched over to Luna and Luan's room.

"Hey, Linc." Luan called out, when Lincoln entered her room. A grunt of acknowledgement from Luna followed this, as she chewed on her pen and stared at her homework. "Hey, I hope that both of you are free for the rest of the day." Lincoln told the girls, as he went and sat on Luan's bed. Luan herself reclining on the bean bag and Luna doing homework at a desk. "Does it look like I'm free, dude?" Luna growled, her teeth grinding together in frustration.

"It'd be a shame, if you weren't. I thought we could make up for Luan's birthday." Lincoln said as he turned on the innocence. Though Luan wasn't impressed.

"And here I thought that we were never going to talk about that again." She said with ire in her voice. Luna also had some choice words for Lincoln.

"And I don't want to make up for a day that was meant to make up for another day." Clearly, she hadn't quite forgotten about the underground concert.

"Well, I thought you were the fun sisters, clearly I was wrong." Lincoln muttered, pretending to ignore two separate glares of intense dispute.

"Now, just what is that supposed to mean?" Luan, got up from her bean bag, and advanced on Lincoln as she said this, Luna not being far behind.

"It means that I probably shouldn't go looking for a fun time from either of you." Lincoln was pushing this situation as far as he could and two crimson faces said that, that was pretty far. "Nice try Lincoln, but don't think we can see what you're doing?" Luna growled.

"It doesn't matter if you can." Lincoln said and added. "Clearly, you both know that the point still stands. Unless..."  
"Unless, we show you a good time." Luna interjected.

"Bingo!" Lincoln answered with a smile and Luna looked ready to give Lincoln a black eye, Luan clearly not far behind. Until, Luna smiled and said,

"Ah, what the hell, who needs to do homework." Luan put her hands on her waist and sighed, before entering into her wardrobe. Luna, meanwhile, covered her homework in peanut butter and whistled for the family dog. Luan emerged from the wardrobe with a yellow jumper and said. "You're lucky, we're much more forgiving than fun loving, Lincoln."  
"I thought it was because you liked me so much." Lincoln replied with a smile

"While that's also a good reason, don't go pushing your luck or getting a big head, bro." Luna jested as she poked Lincoln's forehead and the three made their way out of the house.

Obviously, if Lincoln was following Lynn's plan, Luan was a third wheel in all of this. But, Lincoln had decided to change things up a little. He was still going to follow Lynn's plan, it was going to be the quickest way to beat her; but, from now on, he didn't feel the need to do exactly as she said. He was going to take Luna's advice and try to go through life without a care. Now, Lincoln just wasn't that kind of person, of this he knew, but he could learn to not see every outcome, or at least every outcome he didn't plan for, as a disaster. Sure, in this instance, Luan could get in the way. She could ruin everything. But, that didn't mean she would and it was always more fun being with Luna and Luan than being with just one of the pair. No matter how he changed, Lincoln did love both of his sisters; after all.

Outside the house, Luan was the first to speak. "So, what did you have in mind."

"I didn't have anything in mind." Lincoln answered and one could almost hear Luan's disappointment.

"You mean to say, that you brought us out here on a whim!" She exclaimed. Lincoln nodded and Luan grabbed him by the shoulders and started to shake him.

"Dudes, I know a place we can go." Luna said cheerfully.

"If it starts with an A and ends in an um, then I'm going back inside." Luan retorted dryly.

"Dang it and here I'd thought you'd enjoy going to an aluminium factory." Luna said slyly, getting a chuckle from the easy to please, Luan.

"Nah, I was thinking we should play it simple." Luna added.

* * *

During a quick trip to the mall, the three split off and went in search of what Luna called "time wasters." And the three came back with bags filled with an assortment of goods. Afterwards, they ate at the mall's café, and made their way into a nearby park. "Alright, clown to the left of me, joker to the right, here we are!" Luna shouted as she put down her bag and pulled out a firework. Although, it was starting to get late, it was still a bright summer's day and the two younger siblings clearly objected. "Hide it! Hide it!" Lincoln started shouting in a panic.

"It isn't going to work out very well." Luan said with a quick giggle at the expense of the others, as they groaned in response.

"Fine, no fireworks. Lincoln, what did you bring to the table?" After Luna asked this, Lincoln dug around in his shopping bag and pulled out a helicopter.

"Wow, can you tell which of us has a Y chromosome?" Luan asked, as she poked her younger brother in the cheek.

"Call me predictable all you want. But the catch is, you and Luna are going to both use it." Lincoln told the girls and they responded by jokingly pointing a finger at each other. Lincoln dove back inside the bag and pulled out a remote. "There's two control sticks, one for each of you. Good luck." Lincoln then handed the controller to Luna, who shared the other side with Luan, and held the helicopter above his head. "This can only end well." Luna said and she pushed her stick all of the way, prompting the helicopters back rotor to leap into action. Causing the helicopter to twist Lincoln's arm. Luan pushed her own stick forward and the helicopter lifted into the air, only to flip and dive into the ground. Giving the three siblings a laugh. "No wonder the air force crash these things all the time." Luna joked as the helicopter slid into a ditch.

The two sisters tried to raise it into the air, numerous times, but the helicopter just shuntered along the ground; until finally ending up in a pond. "Aha, I hope you didn't want that Linc." Luan forced out through a stifled chuckle.

"I've got a budget, so I mind sure it was very cheap and disposable." Lincoln replied.

"Kind of like my firework." Luna said as she pulled the bomb out of her bag.

"Put that back." Lincoln and Luan said in unison and the glum rocker put her dangerous 'toy' back in the bag.

"Well, time to show you what I got." Luan said with glee and pulled out three squirt guns. Handing one out to each of the trio.

"Nice!" Luna said as she aimed the gun straight at Lincoln's face.

"Hold on!" Lincoln shouted, waving his arms in the air. "Don't you think we should do this properly, like a duel?"

At this, Luna pulled a face. But, Luan just shrugged, as if to say, "just go along with it."

The three stood on a hill, back to back, as the wind blew and drove a leaf into Lincoln's face. The other two couldn't help but giggle, as they watched Lincoln swat at his face from the corner of their eyes. When Lincoln finally stopped, they counted down, from three to one, and set ten paces. On the tenth step, the three spun on their heels and fired. Only for two jets of water to immediately hit Lincoln. "Oh, come on!" He yelled, shaking a fist in the air, only for the two brunettes to chase him down the hill as they set about soaking the boy from head to toe. Their haste became their downfall, however, as Lincoln turned and soaked both of the girls, as they ran down the hill and straight into his fire. The game continued until they ran out of water and the three collapsed in a pile at the bottom of the hill. They laughed heartily, through their exhaustion, until Luan started to take their sweater off. "You a little hot under the collar, sis?" Luna joked, but Lincoln immediately figured out the problem. As Luna panted, the raising and falling of her chest made it very obvious that her bra and clevage was on show through her wet top. "I think you're the one that's a little too hot." Luan said, as she tried to hand her cardigan over to a befuddled Luna. Taking the opportunity, Lincoln shot Luan with the last of his water. Causing the prankster to yelp in surprise. "Lincoln!" She yelled, turning on her younger brother.

"Aha, don't you normally make a pun, right about now?" Lincoln said nervously, while scorn radiated off of Luan. Summoning his courage, he added. "If it helps, I think you have nice breasts." Luna howled with laughter, as Luan's arms shot up around her chest.

"The only reason I'm not hitting you, is because I need to shield my dignity." Luan told Lincoln. Only for Luna to steal the opportunity.

"Don't you mean, shield your big titties." She joked and continued to roar with laughter. Luan tried not to laugh, but she just couldn't help herself.

After that was over, the three marched back up the hill and waited for it to be dark enough to use a firework and then make a run for it. Luan put her sweater back on and Luna simply took her shirt off, making her little brother blush. "Do you really think Luan has nice tits?" Luna asked, ignoring Luan's objections. "Why wouldn't I?" Lincoln answered, Luna's reaction giving Lincoln a lot more confidence to view his sisters sexually. "Enough, enough." Luan yelled in vain, as Luna showed no signs of stopping.

"What do you like about them?" She asked and Luan went quiet.

"Well, they're large and they look firm and-" Lincoln was swiftly interrupted by Luan.

"How about we put the shoe on the other foot? Lincoln, what do you think of Luna's fat ass?" She asked and Lincoln nearly choked, the gentle gaze from a curious Luna being more deadly than when she glared daggers. "It-" Lincoln wanted to stall, but Luan wasn't having any of it and made chopping motions with her hands. "It is a rather marvellous ass." Doing his best to sound intellectual and instead sounding like a perverted old man, though Luna laughed anyway.

"Hear that Luan? You have nice, polite breasts and I've got a stunning and marvellous arse!" She continued to laugh at Luan's expense and the comedian could only huff in response. "Fine, but, that's just sight!" She rebutted, clearly feeling a sting from Luna's words and laughter.

"What! Did you even hear what you just said!?" Luna exclaimed, finally shocked by the turn of events.

"No! I take it back!" Luan quickly yelled. Lincoln had been quiet for some time, but the girl's soon joined in his silence.

An hour later, boredom forced the Louds to break the silence. "How long will it take for this sun to fuck off!" Luna yelled, shaking her fist up at the sky. This broke the tension and the three eventually returned to their old ways. Laughing, joking and singing as the hours flew by. Eventually, it was time to light the rocket. "Drumroll please!" Luna commanded as she lit a match, she soon found that her two comrades had put a healthy amount of distance between themselves and the rocket. "Fine!" Luna lit the fuse and ran to the others. They waited. Waited a little while longer. Waited some more. "I know we shouldn't go near it. But, this thing isn't flying, and we shouldn't leave it in the middle of a park." Luan determined, a little on edge about a possible accident.

"We should see if the fuse is lit before going near it, one of us should go buy a telescope and a torch." Lincoln said as he watched the rocket intently.

"I'll do-" Luna's words were cut off by the rocket firing itself into the sky, only to drop back down and explode on the ground. "Fucking, fuck." Luna said, her jaw on the ground. The three walked towards a black spot on the ground and stared at the wreckage. "Well, that's that, let's pick up the pieces and swear never to buy a cheap firework, ever again." Lincoln said and his sisters nodded.

* * *

When the trio returned, the others, at home, raised their eyebrows at the predicament they were in. Lincoln looked fine; but Luna was wearing Luan's sweater, as she had used her shirt to clean up the pieces and then disposed of it, and Luan herself shivered as she wore a wet top. Thankfully, chaos was no stranger to the family and the three slipped by without difficulty. Only Lynn watched the three run upstairs.

"Thanks a lot, you guys, today's been really nice." Lincoln said with a wide grin, as Luan laid down on her bed and Luna picked up pieces of her homework.

"Sure, you and I've been going out a lot together, but it was much nicer being a group." Luan told Lincoln, seemingly implying that she'd rather spend time with her favourite sister and brother, as opposed to going on faux pas dates with Lincoln. Even if she enjoyed both. "Nice like your breasts, Luan?" Luna asked.

"Will you shut up about that?" Luan exclaimed and Lincoln, seeing an opportunity, left the two to play argue.

Not long after Lincoln had settled into his room, Luan came in and closed the door behind her. "Something up, Luan?" Lincoln asked, but didn't get a joke in response. Luan was nervous and her hands were a little shaky. "You know that none of us likes losing to any of the others. You can't deny that you're the same." Luan told Lincoln, as she sat on the bed. Lincoln, worried to put one foot wrong, leaned forward and scootched over next to Luan. "You're not wrong." He said. A little tentative about giving a clear cut answer. Luan inhaled sharply and then exhaled. She then closed her eyes as she took off her top and only opened them after she had taken off her bra. "It's nothing you haven't seen before. But, tell me how they feel." She said quietly, her words almost a whisper. Luan's breasts were right in front of Lincoln and, unlike last time, he wasn't allowed to run away. With his heart pounding against his chest, Lincoln slowly lifted his hands and held his sister's breasts. She gasped, at first, but then started to become frustrated. "Lincoln, you're not an alien trying to figure out what grass is." She told him and he gulped as he started to massage Luan's breasts. She waited quietly as he did so. Not making a sound as he explored their firmness and roundness. Though she bit her lip when his thumb traced over her nipple. Lincoln had, had wet dreams about massaging Luan's boobs and he was secretly ecstatic to be living the dream, until she abruptly slapped his hand away. Simply asking. "Well?" Without any added information. Lincoln almost said they were nice, but then caught himself and remembered how Luna had teased Luan about Lincoln's choice of words. The key was to flatter Luan, without laying it on thick. "They felt really pleasant, I actually found myself happy to be massaging them." Lincoln was lying through his teeth, as he couldn't be happier. But, he had made Luan smile. "Thanks, Linc. I knew I could count on you." With that said. Luan put her clothes back on. "Listen, I know this doesn't prove anything. It's not like you're going to start groping Luna's butt anytime soon. But, even so, it puts my mind at ease." Luan explained this and, a little awkwardly, pat Lincoln on the head. "See you, tomorrow." She said, nervously and exited stage left. Leaving Lincoln alone.

Lincoln mulled over the days events. It was a brief day, but a lot happened. Luna's advice. Lynn's challenge and Lincoln's decision to do things his way. In the end, Lynn had been right about some things. But, not everything. Making Luan jealous did result in becoming more intimate with her. But, he didn't need to plan and scheme. He just needed to spend time with his sisters and be more affectionate, as well as a little daring. If he wanted to become more intimate with his sisters, Lynn was indispensable. But, he needn't follow her every word like a dog. Rather, being himself was the most important thing. It sounded a little stupid, when Lincoln thought about it. After all, it was his real self that his sisters were already close to. Not a schemer and certainly not Lynn's puppet. With a sigh, Lincoln leaned back on his bed. For now, no matter which way Lincoln cut it, it always came back to Lynn. He didn't feel that he was controlled by her anymore. But, that she kissed him, saved him from humiliation in the inflated pool, only to then try and control him, spoke volumes about how Lynn felt about Lincoln. Her motives were clear, but that didn't make her behaviour any less complex or worrying.

There was, after all, no real way to deal with Lynn. Lincoln couldn't confront her, Lynn responded very aggressively to confrontation, and he certainly couldn't ignore her. All Lincoln could do was think of Lynn as less of an adversary and more of a confused teenager. Not unlike he was. That didn't make things any easier. But, Lincoln realised that he could stop things from becoming more difficult to deal with. Even if she had used him like a puppet, she was still his sister. As it became clear that Lincoln and Lynn shared incestuous desires, all Lincoln could do was hope that no matter how she felt towards him; she'd never forget that he was her brother.


	10. Chapter 10: Good Going, Lynn

Chapter Ten

An uncomfortable topic among the Loud family was the presence of Leni. Though she was eighteen and was old enough to go to college, her bad grades made it impossible. That wouldn't be the end of it, as there were plenty of colleges that accepted students with bad grades, but those were out situated some distance away from Royal Woods and the idea of being away from family was too much for the soft-hearted youth. So, instead of seeking higher education, and because Rita was worried about Leni's likelihood of holding down a job, Leni had ended up as a stay at home slacker. She didn't intend to live her life this way, but that's simply how things had turned out.

Lynn Loud Sr, wasn't worried. He told Rita that Leni would always be safest at home and that would always be what was most important. This did a lot to reassure Rita, Leni had always had a habit of miscommunication followed by disappearing for hours on end. Yet, it didn't change that fact that Leni was now constantly at home and that put some strain on the family.

Leni wasn't someone that could be left on her own, previously Lori had always looked after her. But with Lori gone, the responsibility rotated amongst the older Loud children. Today it had ended up being Lincoln's turn to look after Leni. "Are you hungry, Lincy?" She asked, as the two sat on the couch watching a cooking show.

"I wasn't until you asked." Lincoln replied, not taking his eyes off of the T.V.

"So, does that mean you are hungry?" The blonde asked and Lincoln could only sigh in response.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat." Lincoln said, taking Leni by the hand.

In the kitchen, Lincoln watched Leni as she dug through all of the cupboards. "Do you even know what you want?" Lincoln asked as a pile of food grew upon the counter.

"No, so I thought I'd just take everything out first." Leni answered back as she threw ice cream and herbs on the counter.

"Leni, most of what you're pulling out isn't even edible by itself." Lincoln told her and started sorting through the piles of food.

"Let me sort this out." He then added.

"No, I totes got this. Just leave it to me." Leni told Lincoln, making a mess as she also started to move food around.

"Leni, you're making things worse." Lincoln cried out in frustration.

"Just let me do this!" Leni snapped. Surprising both of them. Leni breathed harshly, shaking as she tensed up. After taking a moment to ponder, Lincoln asked.

"What is this really about?" Leni's reply wasn't immediate and, when it came, it was soft and fragile.

"I don't know." It was clear that Leni was confused and very emotionally frustrated. No one could rightly ignore her in such a state. So, Lincoln wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. The blonde inhaled sharply, but soon reciprocated the hug. Nearly crushing Lincoln's bones in the process.

* * *

"How should I know?" Was Lynn's answer, when Lincoln asked if she had any ideas about Leni. When night came, as usual, Lynn had crept into Lincoln's room and they discussed the recent events. "Anyway, forget Leni for now. I want to know more about Luna and Luan." Lynn added, acting as if she was not the least bit invested in Leni's emotional turmoil. "Luna and Luan are fine, Leni isn't." Lincoln answered back, which made Lynn clench her fists tightly.

"Well, what do you expect me to do about it? I tend not to understand Leni at the best of times and Lori was always the one who looked after Leni." Lynn forced through gritted teeth. "Well, Lori's not here now. So, it's up to us." Lincoln hissed in response. Lynn folded her arms and closed her eyes.

"Fine." Lynn finally said. "You're not the only one who hates the idea of Leni being upset. I just don't know what we can do to make her happy."  
"We just have to be there for her." Lincoln replied.

* * *

The next day, Lincoln and Lynn stood outside Leni's door while they waited for her. "This is taking forever." Lynn grumbled, tapping her foot against the floor in frustration.

"You should have been there for when we were in the clothing store. That! Took forever." Came Lincoln's response as he leaned against the wall adjacent to the bedroom door. "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, especially of late; but, you have to admit, I've never bothered you when it comes to fashion."

"No, you just steal my jeans." Was Lincoln's reply to Lynn's snark, but it didn't have the bite necessary to shut her up.

"Jeans are your every-pants, pants for every situation. Plus, I like it when they get all squidgy after they get wet.

"Fine." Lincoln replied, starting to feel himself give in to Lynn. But, as a final act of defience, he asked. "But, do you have to steal mine? Go and buy your own."

"I don't need to, when I've already got yours." Came Lynn's cheeky jab and, with it, the last vestiges of Lincoln's will to argue, or even care, vanished. Thankfully, Leni's cheery disposition brought some levity to the exchange. As she burst out of her room, crying out. "Vi-ola!" Lincoln's jaw dropped. Leni was dressed like an Oktoberfest maid, complete with braided hair and breasts on show. Lincoln was so captivated, that Lynn had to reach over and push his jaw back into place. "What do you think?" Leni asked with a sunny smile. Receiving two wide-eyed stares in return.

Even though Royal Woods was nowhere near Germany, a few money savvy locals had smelt opportunity and had decided to host a mini-Oktoberfest of their own with a Royal Woods spin. The Royal Woods Oktoberfest was a fusion of German and Indian beer culture and it, like many other fusion-style restaurants/events, was a big success. The mix was just as slapdash as breadsticks in Chinese takeaway cartons, as served by the local Italian-Chinese restaurant, and featured plastic beer tankers in the shape of tiger's heads; curry and sausages, locally made short films, baumkuchen with kheer in the center and, of course, lots of German and Indian beer.

There were some positives to this, Royal Woods now had a place for young filmmakers to show their love of the craft and most locals weren't even aware that the Indians made beer. It was a learning experience for many. Leni in particular found the event to be a learning experience, as the young fashionista hadn't yet made a German style dress. There was, of course, a first time for everything, but Leni's first time was simply stunning. Even as they arrived at the fair, Lincoln still found himself unable to keep his eyes off of his blonde sister. Much to Lynn's annoyance.

"Okay, so, what do you think we should do first?" The happy-go-lucky blonde asked.

"Well, the big attraction is beer." Lynn answered.

"But, Lynn, we're not old enough to drink beer yet." Replied Leni, only for Lynn to be snarky and say,

"Then, we probably shouldn't be here. Let's go home." Her words fell flat on Leni, however, as the blonde simply chastised her.

"I'm sure there's plenty to do, Lynn. So, come on already." After she said this, Leni grabbed Lynn and Lincoln and practically dragged them into the center of the fair. As she led her two younger siblings around, they were assaulted with a chorus of, "what's this" and "what's that." It was immediately apparent, that even though she looked the part, Leni was very much out of place and every stall owner took the opportunity to take advantage of this; as they called out to her and gave her incentive to visit their stall over others. Only adding haste to her already exuberant pace.

The joyful nature of Leni was really quite infective, as eventually a crowd formed her and Lynn and Lincoln were quickly pushed out. It quickly became apparent that the folks at the fair had turned her into part of the attraction. "This will be bad, if we leave her alone." Lynn said, her voice filled with worry.

"Right, I'll chase after her. You go around and see if you can cut her off." After Lincoln gave out the plan, he received a nod from Lynn and the two ran off. With Lynn, being the fastest, doing her best to overtake the crowd with Leni in the center. It was only a minute before they caught up to the crowd, but they underestimated their opponent. Said crowd wasn't made up of people that had formed around where the excitement was happening, the stall owners had unwittingly drawn attention to a vulnerable beauty and had earned her the attention of less than reputable youths. Youths who were apparently used to this sort of thing, as they moved to block Lynn and Lincoln from making their way towards Leni. Lynn, however, wasn't the kind to lie down and take this and she stomped on a man with crocs and a sleeveless hoodie. Causing him to howl in pain. His girlfriend, a young woman with bright dyed hair and a fake tan, immediately rounded on Lynn, only to pushed into the crowd; opening a gap for Lynn to pull Leni out of the crowd. Lincoln leaped over the tangled mess of bodies and hurried up to his two sisters, helping them make their getaway.

The younger siblings panted, now that they were on the edge of the fair, whilst the oldest stumbled about on the spot. "Er, Leni, are you feeling okay?" Lincoln asked, as he managed to shake off his fatigue. "Never better, ahuh." Leni giggled and burped and showed the telltale signs of being inebriated.

"Great, we'll never find which stall is to blame!" Lynn growled as she grinded her feet into the floor. She then sighed and said. "Let's just go home."

"Wait!" The blonde screeched, making her two companions jump. "We don't have anything to remember this day by." She explained. Making Lynn facepalm. She walked to the nearest stall, cracked her knuckles, looked at Lincoln expectantly, and, after he gave the stall owner a dollar note, she picked up a ball and hurled it with all of her strength. The challenge, in question, was knocking down the bottles with a ball; but, as they had been glued together, Lynn instead dug a hole straight through the bottles, and the tent itself, as the ball blasted out the other end. "What, you can't-" Lynn ignored the stall owner's quiet denial and snagged a large pink teddy bear, before throwing it over to Leni. "Now can we go?" Lynn asked, but she didn't wait for a reply and made her way back home. Expecting the others to follow. Leni, who was completely flushed, couldn't be expected to walk on her own. So, Lincoln put his hand around Leni's waist, biting his lips nervously when he touched her waist, and led her after Lynn.

After they got out of the fair, Lynn had slowed down greatly, which Lincoln greatly appreciated, as walking with Leni was slowing him down tremendously. "Fairs, man. They attract predators like flies, whatever happened to good sportsmanship." Lynn complained as they slowly made their back home.

"Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about." Lincoln replied, as he guided Leni around a pothole.

"Courting's kind of like a sport, don't you think?" Lynn asked, momentarily confusing Lincoln, until he made the connection.

"I didn't know you were old fashioned, thinking of things that way. Leniii, stop it." Lincoln's answer was interrupted by Leni playing with his white hair.

"All sports are old-fashioned and were at the best in the past. The sportsman of today don't know how to play properly." Lynn explained, with Lincoln chiming in.

"I see, I get you. I see the connection you're trying to make now."

"Right?" Lynn inquired with her characteristic grin.

"Right, now can we please find a bench, Leni's falling asleep on me."

Once again, after yet another disastrous day out, Lincoln founded himself at a bench in a random park. He felt that, in the future, he may as well skip the day out and go find a park bench. To make things worse, on one side he had Leni falling on top of him, her tall body and hourglass figure making supporting her difficult, and, on the other side, he had Lynn who was silently kicking her legs back and forth. "Today's been a complete bust." Lynn finally said, as she stomped on the ground with both feet, kicking up dust. "What do you mean?" Lincoln asked, a little worried that Leni's breasts might spill out of her top.

"Leni might be happy now, but the problem's still there, Lincoln and we don't even know what that problem is."

"We just have to keep trying." Was Lincoln's response to Lynn's little tirade. But she didn't take it well.

"Yeah, and look where that got us, we had to save Leni from a bunch of slimeballs." Lynn snapped.

"If we give up now, then we really will have completely wasted today." Lincoln argued and Lynn couldn't find an appropriate response, so she stayed quiet instead. For about ten seconds.

"Lincoln?" Lynn called out.

"What's up?" Was his absent-minded response, but he quickly became intensely focused as Lynn climbed onto his lap. "Lynn-" Lincoln tried to speak, but Lynn grabbed him by a shoulder and clasped her other hand around his mouth. "There's one way, to know for sure, that this day hasn't been a total waste." She told him. She then grinded into him, her crotch rubbing into his. Stimulating him, as she built up his arousal with each grind. Lincoln shivered as sensation took over, fear tried to force Lincoln to act, but Lynn was stronger and she responded by putting more force into pinning Lincoln to the bench. In the midst of all of this, Leni's head was still resting against Lincoln's and she was inches away from the action. Not that Lynn cared as she picked up pace and started to pant, giving herself over to desire and pleasure. As Lincoln became more excited; he felt the warmth of his breath in the palm of Lynn's hand, noticed every bead of sweat on Lynn and smelt her arousal. Eventually, Lincoln's voice was freed after Lynn removed her hand, only to be trapped again, after Lynn forced her lips against his and pulled him into a deep long kiss. She couldn't maneuver as well in this position, so she simply pressed into his crotch as hard as she could.

"What?" A voice interrupted them both, out of the corner of their eyes, they saw that, though Leni hadn't moved, she had opened her eyes and saw them both in the act. She was also dangerously close to them and that only added to the shock. After the initial surprise, Leni was simply stunned and nobody dared move. A million thoughts raced through Lincoln's mind and not one of them could help him. It didn't help that Lynn was still pinning him down, with her lips on his. Lynn was the first to act, she slowly pulled herself from Lincoln and whispered. "Lucha Libre?" Leni lurched upright and pulled away from the two, tucking herself into the corner of the bench. Lincoln, momentarily, thought about denying his involvement in what had transpired. But, he knew he'd be partially lying and he didn't want to throw Lynn in front of a bus. So, Lincoln sat frozen. Lynn, however, for better or for worse, was a woman of action and, against her better judgement, she leaned in and once again locked her lips with Lincoln. Watching Leni as she did so. Lincoln, his mind now overloaded, could only sit and take the affection being laid on him. As Lynn continued, she became more primal, digging her nails into Lincoln's shoulder and pushing herself into him. With her free hand, she snatched ahold of one of Leni's, who didn't resist, and tightly clenched it. This continued for a full minute, until Lynn finally pulled back gasping. This, however, didn't solve anything. In fact, it made things worse, much worse. There was no explaining this away now, Lynn had made sure of that and, in her heart of hearts, she had genuinely wanted this. No matter what she might say later. But, there would be consequences for her actions. This was made abundantly clear, after Leni finally made a break for it, breaking free of Lynn's tight hold, and ran home.

When Lynn and Lincoln got home, they found that the other siblings weren't happy. "It's bad enough that you did what you did, but to come home acting sheepish!?" Luna growled, with Luan giving a fierce look of disdain. "We-" Lincoln began, only for Lola to interrupt him.

"Ah, ah, ah, we don't know and we don't care. Just go up to Leni's room and apologise." Lincoln nearly let a sigh of relief escape, Leni hadn't said a word to them, but he managed to catch it and hide his relief by running up the stairs. Lynn, feeling that she had already done enough damage, tried to back out of the house. But, Lana was immediately on top of her. "You too, sporty." She said, and with a grimace, Lynn hurried after Lincoln.

In Leni's room, Leni was sprawled out on her bed and crying into her pillow. On entry, the melancholy immediately filled Lincoln from head to toe and he his empathetic side drove him to quietly sit down next to Leni and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Lincoln, only to cough and then press her head back down into the pillow, sobbing as she did so. Without a word, Lynn came in, paused to observe, and then came in and sat down on Leni's opposite side. She put a hand on Leni's spare shoulder and the two siblings gently poured their sympathies into their older sister.


	11. Chapter 11: Desires

Chapter Eleven

Regardless of what they wanted, or needed, the cat was out of the bag and now Leni was in on the secret. Even if she didn't fully understand; which fully her fault, as Lynn and Lincoln couldn't always explain their feelings and didn't necessarily want to. Lynn especially kept her cards close to her chest, preferring to talk about Lincoln, his feelings and her involvement in his actions, as opposed to what was going on with her.

Over the span of a week, little by little, the two eventually did piece together a tale of Lincoln coming to lust after his own sisters. With Lynn begrudgingly admitting that she had feelings for Lincoln and Lincoln begrudgingly admitting that he had feelings for Leni. For all of her faults, no-one could accuse Leni of not being kind and of not doing her best to understand, however limited that understanding was.

"So, Lynn likes you, but you don't know how you feel about her, and you like me, but I don't know how I feel about you?" Leni asked, as she did her best to meld a form of understanding from Lynn and Lincoln's latest rendition of the explanation. "That's right, I guess." Lincoln said nervously, made all the more nervous by the fact that Lynn was scowling. "This is way more complicated than the love boat." Leni whined as she put her hands on her cheeks.

"You got that right." Lynn finally spoke, but her words were doing little to help.

"We've gone over this a lot now, answered every question, talking about things that we never wanted to talk about. So, can we finally get an answer from you?" Lincoln carefully asked.

"About what?" Leni replied with a face of confusion. Causing Lynn to slap herself in the face.

"Leni, listen, we can't stop here. We would if we could, but we can't. So, what are you doing to do about it?" Lynn demanded, losing her patience.

"I don't know!" Leni exclaimed.

"Then just don't get involved." Lynn said curtly and stormed out of the room. Leni looked downcast as she filled with despair. All of this was clearly too much to handle, on top of the emotions that she was also dealing with prior to finding Lynn dry humping Lincoln and making out with him. Lincoln felt guilty and so decided to sit next to her, on the bed. "Leni, I'm here for you, so please, just talk to me." Upon these words, Leni heaved a sigh and slowly made her reply.

"Lincoln, will you just promise that you'll never leave me. No matter what happens."  
"I promise." Lincoln said in an instant and Leni immediately joined her lips with his. At first, shock rampaged within his mind, but he eventually let himself sink into the bliss and returned the feeling as he and Leni kissed. Leni broke free of the kiss first and brushed her hair back. "I don't mind doing things for you, if you promise to never leave me." She said and Lincoln went in for another kiss, only for Leni to block him with her hand. "Not, too much, too fast." She explained, clearly a little on edge about what she just did. "Could you please just leave for now, I want to talk to Lori for a bit." Lincoln nodded and let himself out, as Leni picked up the phone and called Lori on speed dial.

The next day, Leni and Lincoln kissed again, the day after, they kissed again. Every day, they kissed once and no more and, every time they did so, unless Lincoln had plans with Luan, who he was still going out with, they spent an abundant amount of time with each other. Lincoln knew this was a toxic relationship, with both of the players involved holding each other hostage. Lincoln being Leni's shadow in order to receive her affection and Leni bribing Lincoln in order to have him remain by her side. Unfortunately, Lincoln wanted Leni's affection too much, and hated the idea of making Leni worse than she already was, so he didn't make any plans to change the relationship as it was. He did tell Lynn, who raised an eyebrow, but she shrugged the problem away and told Lincoln that it was too late to stop now. So, Lincoln resigned himself to being patient. By now, he had learnt that things always changed.

This change came about when, as Lincoln was exercising, Luna poked her head around the door. "Hey bro, Asylum's got another event on tonight, wanna come with?" She asked, Lincoln stopped, in the middle of his push-ups, and heaved himself to his feet. "The place... where we... got trapped in a faux paus sex room." Lincoln gasped for air as he got up, sweat running off him in tiny little beads.

"You got it, bro. Now, I know what you're thinking, but that was just a one off. They never do the same thing twice." Luna very aptly brushed off the woe caused by the last time she, Lincoln and Luan went to the asylum. Yet, Lincoln was having none of it. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right, this time they'll be a servant in the room with us, handing out mints for breath freshener, just to make things extra awkward." Lincoln's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Luna didn't back off. "Come on dude, where's your sense of adventure. Besides." Luna turned and slapped her ass, causing a slight jiggle. "I still haven't forgotten that you called this arse, marvelous." Luna added and laughed as she left the room. Thinking her argument was won. She was right.

When evening came, Lincoln had washed and gotten ready for the night out. Standing by his side was Leni, who he had, against better his judgement, invited to come with them. Like last time, Luan was also coming along. Against her better judgement. "Looking good, bro." Luna said as she descended the stairs, Luan in tow. "I look the same as always." Came Lincoln's rebuttal.

"Not true, you're looking a little less orange." Luna said with a slight chuckle. The notice had said to attend wearing a white t-shirt. Lincoln, always wearing a t-shirt anyway, had only changed colour. The other girls, Leni most of all, had to change their style to make a white t-shirt match their outfits. "Oh, oh, remember the time when Lincoln and Clyde got covered in orange?" Luan asked excitedly.

"How could I? You won't let me forget it." Lincoln replied in a dry tone.

"How is Clyde, by the way?" Leni asked, her voice sweet and endearing.

"Clyde is in a weird place, right now. Hopefully, he'll shrug it off. But, I think I was making him worse." Lincoln explained, a little uncomfortable talking about his best friend's downward spiral. "Some people are just like that Bro, you just have to hope that his dads have his back." The advice Luna gave wasn't half-bad, but it didn't make the conversation any less awkward. Luan, however, had a remedy for that. "Let's roll out!" She exclaimed, as she rolled a yo-yo. The others groaned, but they marched out of the house all the same.

However, when they came to Detroit and arrived at the asylum, Lincoln and Luan were stunned. The area had completely transformed. What was rows and rows of single shipping containers, was a stage now formed out of the shipping containers. As, they had been packed together and on top of each other. "Wow, it totes looks a lot better than I was expecting." Leni said, a little absent minded as she took in the sight. "What were you expecting?" Lincoln asked, a little afraid to know.

"Luna said we were going to a slum." Came the reply, only for Luna to shake her head in dismay.

"The asylum, Leni, not the a slum." Luna rebutted, with Leni agreeing; but being none the wiser.

"Do you want to stand around, near the entrance, or get moving?" Luan asked, a little impatient due to her worry.

To make the ascent to the top of the containers possible, the organisers of the event had provided a platform and, after they had ascended, the Louds discovered just what this event was all about. Four of the top containers had been removed and sent to the back, where they formed a secondary stage, and the space they left behind had been filled with water. Forming a makeshift pool. "Now I see why they wanted us to come in white t-shirts." Luan said in dismay, as she hid her large breasts with her arms.

"Don't worry Luan, I've got it covered. Just wait here a sec." Luna, after having said this, took out her phone and walked back down the stairs. Away from the noise of people playing and shouting in the pool. "I should have known better." Luan sighed, Lincoln and Leni turning to face her as she spoke. "Initially, I was denying her, no matter what. But, she said she'd do me a favour and I couldn't refuse after that." The trio were silent after that, until Luan spoke up again. "What made you decide to come Lincoln, against your better judgement?" Lincoln couldn't find a fitting answer for Luan, or at least one that didn't make Luan think less of him, so he simply shrugged.

Thankfully, Luna came back to share in her enthusiasm. "Why are you dudes looking so glum? Leni excluded. A friend of mine is coming round with a duffle bag of towels and spare sweaters." Luna's explanation didn't make Luan feel any better.

"And just how does that help us?" Luan demanded to know.

"Come on Luan, we can hide our tits in the water and then just wait until everyone else is gone." Luna answered, but this only stoked the flames of Luan's anger.

"So, we have to wait until morning, again! Only this time, it's in a cold pool, with lots of people, and nowhere to rest!" Luan shouted, starting to draw attention to the group. "We can always sneak out, no-one will notice." Luna responded.

"Oh yeah, because no-one's going to notice these breasts swinging about!" Luan exclaimed and started to swing her breasts left and right to drive the point home, inadvertently driving Lincoln's erection up. "If you don't like it, we can always go." Luna reasoned, but made sure to add. "But, we should ask what the others think first. Leni?"

"I like pools." Leni answered.

"Great, Leni likes pools and Lincoln's still staring at you after you shook your breasts. So, it'd be a shame if they couldn't have any fun." Luan turned and blushed upon seeing Lincoln spin and face the other way. She couldn't help, but remember when she asked Lincoln to feel her breasts. She still didn't want to go through with this. But, as usual, Luna had found a way of getting what she wanted. "Fine, but, I'm not getting in." Luan told the group, still watching Lincoln out of the corner of her eye.

"That's fine, just don't forget to have fun." Luna replied and the four of them, Lincoln tugging on Leni's hand, to make sure that she didn't get left behind, made their way to the pool.

Finding some space, away from the larger congregates of people, Luna and Leni slipped into the pool, Lincoln cannonballed and Luan sat at the side; simply putting her feet in. Lincoln emerged from the depths of the pool with his t-shirt soaked through and squidgy jeans. "Must have cost a pretty penny to pay for all of this." Luna said, rather out of nowhere.

"How so?" Leni asked, bobbing up and down as she paddled in place.

"The containers have been not just been moved, not just been placed on top of each other, but sealed together as well." Luna explained. She was right, especially on that last part, as the water would have simply slipped out of the cracks otherwise. "Don't forget manpower." Luan added. "If there was an accident, it would fall on someone's head and I'd want professionals around to make sure that didn't happen." Luna nodded in agreement of her younger sister's speculation.

"Excuse me?" A nasal voice called out, interrupting the conversation and causing the four looked up to see a man, with shorts, a black t-shirt and a beer belly, standing next to Luan. "Can we help you, dude?" Luna asked and the man knelt down, revealing that he had a stack of cards in his hands. "You've been selected for the main event, here are your numbers." After the man said this, he handed out a card to Luan, Luna and finally Leni.

"Doesn't our brother get one?" Leni asked and, after pausing a moment to think, the man begrudgingly passed one on to Lincoln. Finally receiving one of his own, Lincoln could finally see that each card had a unique number. His was number six. "When they call out your number, make your way up to the stage at the back." He explained and then shuffled off.

"Well, that doesn't sound shady at all." Luan responded, once the man was out of hearing range.

"Yeah, unless it's something good, let's not get involved." Luna said and the other agreed with her in a heartbeat.

Still being a kid, Lincoln couldn't help but explore and with a pool the size of four shipping containers, it was obvious that the white haired thirteen-year old was going to dive down as he far he could. Yet, when he came to resurface, he found that Luna had also dived down to meet him, coming up halfway. Her boyish brown hair drifted in the water and her white t-shirt had become see-through, along with her devilish smile, this gave Luna sexy and playful look that knocked the air out of Lincoln. Forcing him to swim past Luna and resurface for air. Although, she wasn't far behind and resurfaced next to him. "Wow, I was surprised, I knew you had been exercising, but those workouts have been treating you nicely." Luna said as she faced Lincoln.

"What are you talking about?" Lincoln asked, but Luna simply motioned him to sit next to Luan, which Lincoln did. After he climbed onto the side, his white t-shirt revealed just what Luna had been talking about. Lincoln's muscles had become much more apparent, they weren't that of a body-builder, but they were much more than what most young suburban teens had. Firm and prominent and, using Luna's words, one might even call them juicy. "Wow, you're right, they feel so tight." Luan said as she wrapped a hand around one of Lincoln's triceps and squeezed. "I guess we don't need to go to the butcher anymore, because we've already got a slab of meat." Luan joked, as she also gripped Lincoln's bicep. Luna joined in, feeling his abdomen, where abs were beginning to form and Leni soon followed suit.

"Hey, stop it, that tickles." Lincoln jerked as he was tickled, tightening his muscles further and unwittingly enticing the girls to continue.

"Looks like all that effort, and listening to Lynn, paid off in the end, little bro." Luna said, not realising that Leni tensed up, upon hearing Lynn's name, and took her hand away from Lincoln's abs. Luan did notice, however, and decided that meant it was time to stop. Soon after, Luna noticed that she was the only one still rubbing her hand across Lincoln's body and decided that enough was enough.

Lincoln couldn't help but feel a little sad, he had just gotten what he had wanted for nearly a year now and it was so fleeting and fragile. Nevertheless, he hoped this meant that he was on the right path. He loved his sisters, but three in particular meant a lot more to him than family. As he mulled this over, Lynn's face flashed in his mind. He knew she felt the same way about him as he did about Leni, Luna and Luan. But, he didn't know if he felt the same way about her. She infriated him, caused him no end of trouble, had been manipulating him and yet- "Welcome, ladies and gentleman!" Called out an announcer, who shattered Lincoln's train of thought. "I guess this is the event, get ready to leave at a moment's notice." Luan said without hesitation.

"Now some of you may have already guessed, what with your current attire and all, but just to be clear, we're having a wet t-shirt competition!" The announcer bellowed and the crowd roared.

"Yep, time to go, we're leaving." Luan said, as she got up stood aside; waiting for the other to get out of the pool. Luna was first, leading the charge, Lincoln came out after and then he turned to help Leni get out after him.

"Even if it was on a dare, I still wouldn't have gotten involved. I may be comfortable around strangers, but I'm not going to let them drool over me and lick me with their eyes." Luna explained as she dried herself off with a towel, Leni had the second, and the younger two waited their turn. "I do wonder what they'll do when they find out that they're four competitors down." Luan as she received Luna's towel.

"They'll figure something out, besides, that's not our problem. It's their bed and now they've got to lie in it." Lincoln joined in on the conversation, as he too was happy to have escaped without a fuss.

"Here you go, Lincy." Leni said, making a show of handing Lincoln the towel.

"I am glad this went better than last time." Lincoln said as he accepted the towel, only for Leni to ask.

"What happened last time?" Luan flicked Lincoln on the nose, but Luna ahead of the curve.

"Something not as good as this time." She told Leni. Who simply muttered "oh" in response.

When they arrived back home, they took themselves to bed, Leni giving Lincoln a quick peck on the cheek, out of sight of the others, before she left for her room and within minutes, Lincoln found himself tucked away in his bed. Only for Lynn to come in shortly after. "It seems like you're getting everything you wanted." Lynn told Lincoln. The words were accusatory in nature and it didn't take much to guess why. The cat was out of the bag and Lincoln couldn't hide the fact that he knew how Lynn felt about him. The question was, how did he feel about her? "I'm still going to go after Leni, Luna and Luan." Came his answer and Lynn's wore her disdain for this quite plainly. "I know." She growled. But, she didn't move, she didn't complain, she just stayed very still and very tense. "Then, we should do this together, properly this time." Lincoln then stretched out his arm and Lynn gently took his hand; upon which, Lincoln pulled her into bed with him. Once she settled down next to him, she immediately let loose. "Lincoln, I love you, I have done for a long time, I-"

"Shush." Lincoln gently interrupted her. "We can talk about this in the morning."


	12. Chapter 12: It Unravels Part 1

Chapter Twelve

A loud clang sounded throughout Lori and Leni's room, as Lori slammed the heel of her shoe upon a spare table. "All right, sibling family meeting is in session. Lincoln has the floor." She said dryly. Having been back from college for a few weeks, she had a mountain of coursework with only so many days that she could afford to push it all back to. "For years now, our parents have endeavored to make every way the best possible Christmas." Lincoln began, after walking into the middle of the room and taking a rigid stance. "And so far, we've always taken this for granted." He continued only for Lola to take advantage of his pause for effect to object. "What? I'm always doing my best at Christmas!" She whined.

"Only becaushe you shtill believe in shanta." Lisa mused in her dry tone.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Lola accused, pointing her finger.

"Lola, don't point, it's rude dude and eventually someone is going to take a picture of you looking like you're pulling a Nazi salute." Luna, who was on the floor strumming her guitar, told the blonde champion of walking in a straight line. "Ugh, that's like, so not true." Lola said, only for a camera flash to emanate from Lily's position. "Hey!" Lola yelled, beginning to feel like she was being challenged on all sides.

"You never learn, Lola." Lisa said, metaphorically poking the already antagonised twin.

"Why you. This all started with you." Lola growled and made a leap for Lisa, only for Lynn to pick up Lisa, with one hand, and drop her down a good distance from Lola. "Guys, can you not? What did I just say?" Lincoln cried out, only for Luan to shoot out her reply.

"Guys can you not?" She said and laughed as she tied a knot together with the arms of one of Leni's tops. The ditzy blonde quivering with a worried frown at the sight.

Lincoln stormed over to Lori's desk, picked up her shoe, and started to slam it against the desk. "Alright, no more messing around and no more wasting time. Every Christmas, our parents do everything for a large, and possibly still growing, family. It's time we show we care by making the feel special. Agreed? Good." Lincoln went to slam the desk again, but Lori was quicker and snatched her shoe out of Lincoln's hand. "I believe what Lincoln is trying to say is." Lori began with a snarl. "That we shouldn't just sit around waiting for Christmas, while our parents do all of the work. Right?" Lincoln gave a big nod in response. "Now then, can anyone tell me why that's a bad idea?" Lori asked and smugly waited for a reply.

"I know!" Lana shouted, jumping to her feet. "Because it came from Lincoln?" Lana's jest got a slight chuckle from Lynn.

"Close, but that would be more accurate if you had called out Lynn." Lori replied, earning a scowl from Lynn and Lincoln.

"I guess you're going to keep this going until someone gives you the right answer." Luna said, as she straightened up and faced the center of the group. "Mom and Dad love going all out for Christmas, they enjoy the work. So, I'd agree with Lincoln, if he had a point that I could agree with." Luna finished and returned to her guitar without any further fuss.

"And there you have it." Lori declared with her continued smug smile. Only for a yell and a series of loud crashing noises to make her jump out of her skin.

The eleven siblings rushed out of the room, Lily being the smallest making it out first, and were confronted by the sight of their Dad, at the bottom of the stairs, covered in a pile of boxes. There was a chaotic symphony of eleven voices, all screaming "Dad!" Followed by Lynn jumping down several steps of stairs and hastily throwing the boxes off of her father. "It's okay, I'm okay. I landed on something soft." Lynn Sr, said. Lynn, now joined by Luan, pulled their dad to his feet. Where he used to be was a squashed cardboard box, filled with foil. "Well, I don't know if I was unlucky that I dropped that first box or lucky that I fell on top of it. But, I'm going to put some ice on my back and take the day off. Could you kids clean up for me?"

After they cleaned up, the siblings were straight back into Lori and Leni's room and Lincoln didn't need to so much as say a word. "Daddy-o took one hell of a fall." Luna blurted out, unwittingly stating the obvious. "Alright, we in the interest of safety, and showing thanks for years of wonderful holidays, will be taking care of Christmas this year" Lori then slammed her shoe down on the table and made the motion final. The others all filed out of the room, with Lori holding onto Leni so that the valley girl didn't get confused and follow the crowd. Outside, Lynn tapped Lincoln on the shoulder and pointed towards the attic.

* * *

The vents inside castle Loud lead all over the house, save for the attic. For which, there was one way in and one way out. Unless you were Lucy, going up there too often was considered suspicious. But, Lynn and Lincoln had decided that occasional trips to the attic were fine now and then. Especially since they were filled with prolonged make-out sessions and such events made the pair a little more reckless. Not that such a thing happened this time, however. As Lynn had other things on her mind. "A couple of weeks ago, you said that Leni and Luan had gone back to being how they were before Lori left. I'm guessing that's still the case." Lincoln mulled over Lynn's words, as he formulated his answer.

"I wouldn't put it that way. Leni's stopped kissing me and Luan's stopped going out on dates. That's all. But yes and ever since Lori came back."

"Any ideas why?" Lynn asked.

"None. You?" Lincoln fired back, immediately.

"You're the idea lightbulb, not me." Lynn argued, wincing slightly when she realised how loud she was getting. "Maybe we can ask someone smarter than us?" She then suggested. Lincoln sighed in disbelief, putting his hands to his temples. Only to slowly come to a halt, as he realised something. "That might not be such a bad idea." Lincoln said quietly, adding. "Leni gets upset whenever Lori leaves, starts kissing me at one point, only to stop when Lori comes back. We might not be able to figure out what Luan's thinking, but I think Lori has as good a chance as anyone else of being able to figure out Leni."

"So, we each ask Lori, independently, and then compare answers." Lynn plotted, now a little ahead of Lincoln.

The white-haired boy nodded with a smile, but got a bit of a shock when Lynn took his hand. "Now that we got that over with." She said and planted a firm kiss on his lips. Lincoln sunk into the delicious embrace, returning the love as he slipped his free hand under Lynn's shirt and thumbed her nipple. Lynn moaned into Lincoln's lips, only to suddenly shove Lincoln with all of her force. He crashed to the ground and was just about to yell, when he heard footsteps coming up the step-ladder. In their bliss, only Lynn was able to hear the attic door being opened. "Hey, Lucy." Lynn said, having wiped her lips beforehand.

"You've been coming to my dark corner a lot recently. Is Lincoln also here." Lucy said, with a voice like wind passing through a skeleton.

"Sure is. He lost a dare. So, we were discussing his options." Lynn told her goth sister, while Lincoln gave Lucy a slight wave.

"I suggest, making Lincoln ask dad to send him to military school." The goth said, not holding back in the slightest. Showing that Lucy understood and used many words, but mercy wasn't one of them. "Aww, nice, I was just going to make Lincoln dress up in a squirrel suit again." Lynn stated. To the applause of no one.

"Right, well, I'm gonna get going." Lincoln said, getting up and hopping around Lucy as he left the attic. Lucy simply sighed and made her way to the darkest corner of the attic.

* * *

Lincoln knocked on the door to Lori and Leni's room and was let in by Leni. "Hi and, er, thanks Leni." Lincoln said, as he entered.

"No problem, Lincy." Came Leni's reply, as she disappeared into the closet. Lori, sat on her bed, painting her toe nails with a little more success than usual. But, not by much. "Can I talk to you?" He asked her.  
"Sure." Came Lori's reply, without her so much as looking up at Lincoln.

"Alone." He stressed. Hoping that Lori would show willing.

"Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Leni." Lori replied with a stroke of her nail varnish.

"Well, it's about Leni." Lincoln stated, only for Leni to come up behind him.

"What about me?" She asked, her normal cheeriness replaced by a look of uncertainty. Lori simply rolled her eyes.

"Leni, I'm sure it's nothing, I'll be back in a bit." Lori told her younger sister; before guiding Lincoln out of the room. "Alright, so, what is it?" Lori asked, none too pleased that she had to leave her bedroom for this. "Have you noticed anything new about Leni, since you've gotten back?" Lincoln asked, without reservation.

"No, is that it?" Lori fired back immediately.

"Nothing at all? She doesn't at all seem sad or withdrawn?" He asked, pushing the topic as far as it would go.

"No, what's this about?" Lincoln thought about answering Lori's question, but simply decided against it.

"I don't see why I should answer, when you haven't even given me one." Lincoln snapped, a little harshly. Though Lori wasn't the least bit perturbed and simply shrugged and returned inside her room.

* * *

Half an hour later, Lincoln met Lynn in her room. Lucy was, thankfully, still in the attic. "I hope it went better for you, then it did for me." Lincoln said, already feeling a little defeated.

"I was about to ask the same, but that answers my question." Lynn replied, as she entered the room and sat down next to Lincoln. They were silent, but Lynn never kept silence around for long. "This bites it hard!" She groaned, not minding her volume in the least. Lincoln kept silent while he mulled over his options. To him, it seemed that they could either push further or give up and wait for Leni to figure things out. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lynn rubbing the side of her head. "What's up with you?" He asked.

"The moment I asked, Lori signaled for me to come closer and then she beat me with her coursework folder. That thing's huge!" Lynn moaned, only to then rest her body against Lincoln's shoulder without a word. Lincoln tentatively put his arm around his older sister and they stayed like this for some time. Lincoln, unsure of what to do, didn't move a muscle. During their quiet moment together; Lincoln noticed Lynn's chest move up and down as she breathed, her hair falling on his bare arm, her eyelashes flutter. It was a pleasant feeling, one that filled Lincoln with feelings for Lynn that he didn't know he had, but he knew it couldn't last forever. He simply said. "Lynn, Lucy could be back any second." And Lynn slowly returned to a sitting position. With this over, he decided to put a newly formed plan into action

* * *

A little later, Lori was storming around the house, looking for Lincoln, until she eventually found him; making food in the kitchen. "You must think you're really funny." Lori growled as she marched towards Lincoln, she tried to pick him up. But, he proved too heavy for her and she was forced to let go. "Er, I'm a little too old for you to play rocketeer with me, Lori." He jokingly said, only for Lori to snarl in response.

"Why is it, that I had everybody asking me if Leni was okay? Including, Lily AND Leni!" Lori asked through gritted teeth.

"Because, everybody's worried about Leni?" Came Lincoln's retort and Lori's face boiled.

"Look! I have no idea about Leni. She's still the same as ever. But, if you're that worried, I'll take Leni out to the mall and ask her some questions." Lori softened a little by that last point, clearly the worriment that Lincoln and Lynn held was rubbing off on her. "Thanks, Lori." Lincoln said, but caught a scowl in response. Lori then gave a brief smile, as she shook her head, and finally left. "That went better than I thought it would." Lynn said, having hidden outside, with the backdoor open slightly ajar.

"But, about as well as I had hop- hey!" Lincoln interrupted himself upon seeing Lynn take a huge bite out of the sandwich he was eating. "What?" Came the reply and several wet breadcrumbs.

* * *

The next day, Lincoln exercised with Lynn, as he had started doing the month prior. Showered. Got dressed and ready. Sat down at his desk and had the life scared out of him when the whoopee cushion underneath him went off. "Don't you ever get bored of this?" Lincoln said with a sigh, as Luan entered the room and pulled the cushion out from under him. "Hey, I'm not the only person who gets a blast from this." Luan said and laughed at her own joke. Preventing her from noticing a sly smile slip onto Lincoln's face. "You know what? That's fine, Luan. Because, these days, I know your weakness." He told her and she immediately froze.

"And just what weakness would that be?" She asked, the comedy erased from her voice. Lincoln could have answered Luan, but he didn't. There wasn't really a need to. Instead, he stood up and gave Luan's butt a light smack as he walked past. "Your breasts may be pleasant, but they're not your only asset." He said as he left the room, leaving Luan frozen; her mouth agape. When Lincoln got out, however, he marched straight to the bathroom, locked the door, and crouched down in front of the door. His heart beat furiously and sweat ran off of him. He didn't always have the bravado to meet his ideas with action.

Once he calmed down, Lincoln got up and opened the bathroom door. Only to find Luan waiting for him. She shoved him back inside the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Then she simply folded her arms and stared at him. Luan had effectively turned this into a power play and for Lincoln, this situation was a nightmare. There were only two ways this could go, he lost or he won; but he could only win by exerting more power and that was just as bad. He immediately knew that he had to change the situation. He looked through the hole in the bathroom and pretended to see somebody. "Hi, Lana." He said, hoping to put Luan off. But, she simply grabbed him by the ear and pulled him towards her. "You know, in recent years, you've become a bit of a slippery snake. Pinning you down is like putting your hands in a bucket full of eels." She told Lincoln, even as she held his ear.

"You working on a new euphemism for masturbation, Luan?" He joked. Luan bit her lip in an effort to prevent laughter. "Why don't you tell me, what you're up to?" She demanded to know. It seemed, to Lincoln, that slipping away wasn't an option. Luan had come in expecting that. "Luan, you do know that it's because you're my fun-loving sister that I think that I can get away with being a bit silly." Lincoln said, trying to worm his way out of this mess. "You did something that was beyond a bit silly." Luan said, giving Lincoln's ear a squeeze. Showing that flattery wasn't an option either. So, he stopped planning, and like Luna had suggest some time ago, he let impulse take over. "What do you think Luan? Tell me what you think I'm up to." He asked

"I don't know what I'm supposed to think!" Luan yelled, now starting to get a little panicky.

"Well, maybe that means there's nothing to think. I did something I thought you'd find funny and you blew it out of proportion. End of. So, let's just hug and make-up." He explained. But, Luan didn't let go so easily.

"What? So, you can-" Luan caught herself close to letting the whole house know and instead mouthed the words, "touch me again?" Lincoln's reply was faster than a heartbeat.

"Do you want me to? You asked me to last time." He whispered. Luan froze, giving Lincoln ample time to step closer to Luan and, though there wasn't much height difference, look up at her eyes. Luan clenched her teeth in response. "So, this is what it comes down to. Huh?" Lincoln had tipped his hand, though it proved to be too much too soon. Luan put one finger on Lincoln's chest and did her best to lean over him, as she said. "I don't want to talk to you or even be near you, ever again." She then unlocked the door, stormed past nine siblings and left Lincoln looking ready to cry.

* * *

"It's your own fault." Lynn said, as they talked in the attic. "You got too impatient." She added.

"This coming from you?" Lincoln asked, as he laid on the musty attic floor.

"Unlike you and me, Luan doesn't have base feelings. That's what all of this planning was about, creating those feelings." Lynn explained, she kept her body busy by holding it in the middle of a squat pose.

"Does this mean I blew it?" Lincoln asked.

"Nah, it's too early to tell just yet. Who knows, maybe we can even turn this around in our favour." Lynn answered, clearly unfazed by her impromptu workout. "How so?" Lincoln questioned, leaning up with the dust clinging to the back of his orange top. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Came Lynn's answer.

At the same time, Luna and Luan were also having a heated conversation in their room. "It's only going to eat you alive, if you don't get it off your chest, dude." Luna said in, what counted as, her stern voice.

"I don't think I need to say anything." Came Luan's retort. Even if she felt she hated Lincoln right now, she didn't want to out him. Luna, laying back on the bean bag, simply scratched her head. "Well, if it's about you and Lincoln, I don't think it could be too difficult to guess." Luna said, earning a scoff from Luan. "He told you that you're not funny." Luna guessed.

"No." Came Luan's response and this continued for some time. With Luna making guesses based around Luan's personality and Luan simply saying "No." To each guess. Eventually Luna gave in.

"You know, Luan. Whatever it is, whatever was said or done, it doesn't remove the fact that you're family." Luna said, trying to be the adult in the situation.

"Yeah, well, things change." Was Luan's sad reply.

* * *

Over the next two weeks, the Loud siblings took care of preparing Christmas for the whole family, even as Luan gave Lincoln a cold shoulder that dug straight through to the bone. Lincoln himself didn't try to initiate, sticking to Lynn's advice. But the simple greetings he made as a family member, were all ignored by Luan. The others all noticed; but, unlike Lincoln, they choose not to get involved in sibling arguments. Leaving things to sort themselves out. And like this, even as they moved towards a holiday of joy, forgiveness and love, the rift stayed open until Christmas eve.

When Luna finally decided that enough was enough. "I've had it! Go make up with Lincoln, right now." She told Luan. "I'm not-" Luan began, only to be cut off at once.

"And I'm not saying dude, I'm telling." Luna barked. But, Luan didn't move an inch. Not that Luna was willing to accept defeat. She grabbed Luan, pulled her off of the desk, and dragged her to the exit of the room. Luan did her best to struggle and break free, but the older sister, who carried her own instruments around, proved to be a lot stronger. As one final act of defiance, Luan hopped up and spread out like a starfish. Grabbing a hold of the door framed. Luna still wasn't willing to throw in the towel and pulled Luan, for several minutes, until Luan's strength gave in and the two fell backwards onto Leni. The three ending up in a pile on the floor. "Ow, ow, ow." Leni moaned as she had been crushed between the floor and her younger sisters. Luna proved to be fiercely determined and was immediately on her feet and dragging Luan towards Lincoln's room. "If I tell you what's wrong, will you stop this!" Luan shouted at the top of her lungs. Luna dropped Luan, with an audible thud, and marched back inside her room; grumbling all the while.

When Luan entered her room again, she saw Luna sitting on the floor and slowly venting her anger. Luan sat in front of Luna and slowly tried to explain. "I tried to ignore it, at first. But, after getting me to go on several dates with him, slapping me on the butt the day of the argument and given how he acted during the argument. I think Lincoln has a crush on me." Luna fumed through her nose.

"That's it?" She asked.

"What do you mean, that's it?" Luan's question shot out of her like a bolt of lightning.

"Luan, he is a thirteen-year-old boy with ten sisters. What did you think was going to happen?" Luna queried. Being sure to add on. "Let me guess, he caught you masturbating one time?"

"Yes." Luan whispered. But, then exerted herself. "Hey, but, would you be comfortable if you were his object of desire?" She asked.

"No, but I wouldn't let something like that bother me, dude." Luna replied dryly, implying that all the fault lied with Luan. In reality, Lincoln was still mostly at fault. This wasn't an impulse of his after all. He had also been given multiple outs. But, neither Luna nor Luan could possibly know that and, so, Luan swallowed a lump in her throat and gave in. "What sh-" Luan began, only to be interrupted.

"Just apologise. Already, in the end, it doesn't even matter who is at fault. Just get that status quo back." Luna told her. Luan nodded and made her way to the door, only for Luna to ask one final question. "That was it, right? He just caught you masturbating, nothing else?"

"Luna; we were trapped in a shipping container with him, teased him at the park and who knows what else that I can't remember right now. When I put it that way, I realise just how right you are." Luan then left for Lincoln's room, leaving Luna on her own. It should have just ended there. But, with Luan's last words, Luna found herself wondering if Luan was Lincoln's only object of desire.


	13. Chapter 13: It Unravels Part 2

Chapter 13

In the early hours of Christmas morning, Lincoln got up, met with Lynn, and went for an early morning jog with her. From the window, Luna and Luan watched them go. "Would have never figured Lincoln as a dude who'd exercise seriously." Luna voiced. Then, with a heavy sigh, she said what she actually wanted to say. "This is a bad idea, Luan. You just made up with him yesterday, it's Christmas morning, and you're the one that's going to get shat on if this blows up."

"I'm doing this, because I'm worried about him." Luan responded, as she wrapped a small camera in a dark cloth; making sure not to cover the lens. "What do you even expect to find? Even if, and this is probably the worst that it can be, he uses a picture of you to jerk off with, so what and what then? This plan of yours, doesn't have any planning it in." Luan only partially took in Luna's tirade. But, it was enough to make the appropriate response. "If that's all it is, then we can forget about this. But, just in case, in case there's more to this. I want to know, what it is." Luan looked behind her to see Luna's reaction, but Luna simply shrugged having given in by this point.

During Lincoln's jog with Lynn, Luan took the time to search his room, find the dustiest part of the room, showing that it was the least in use, and hide the camera there. In the midst of her search, she found boxes of Lincoln's old comics. She knew that he had stopped reading comics around the house, in his undies; but it was still a bit surprising to find that he had stopped reading them entirely. For a brief moment, Luan wondered what Lincoln was doing with all this newfound time he would have as a result. But, common sense managed to take a hold of her train of thought, and Luan rushed back into her room, before any of her sisters woke up.

* * *

A few hours later, with Lincoln none the wiser, Christmas was in full swing. The Loud siblings opened their presents, while their parents sat on the couch, with a mug of coffee each, and watched their children, Lori excluded, each take a place on the floor or beside their parents. "Kids, where's Lori?" Rita asked, only for Lori to come into the living room; pushing carrying cardboard boxes. She made a few more trips, which gave the children ample time to notice their names hastily scribbled onto the boxes. "Hey! What's all this?" Screeched Lola as she stood on her feet and demanded to know. Lori, coming in with the last load, put the boxes down and stood up. Revealing numerous bows in her hair. "Kids, who's idea was it to let Lori wrap the presents?" Inquired Rita. Only for Lily to yell.

"We drew straws!" At this, Rita huffed and Lynn Sr, prayed for strength.

"Okay then, I guess we'll just have to move onto stockings." Rita said, determined to get something out of Christmas. But annoyed at how desperate she needed to get. "I'll go first!" Leni yelled and Lori, knowing that she had shit the bed, didn't argue. Leni got up, went to her stocking, took a hold of it and was taken aback by a puff of pink glitter that rose up from her stocking. She was, a little too slow, however, and inhaled some of the glitter. Causing, her to sneeze. Said sneeze was like a gunshot and every speck of glitter, on the stockings, lifted up in a pink cloud and engulfed Leni. Who sneezed rapidly in response, pushing all of the glitter further into the living room. "Whose idea was this? Rita asked, now getting a sense of how Christmas was going to play out this year. "Mine." Answered Lola, a little solemn for being in a position to be told off. "We drew straws." Lily said again, a little unsure this time.

Nevertheless, Christmas had a charm that prevented people from throwing in the towel; too early. Each family took a box with their name on it and opened it up. Inside Lincoln's was a cell phone and various vouchers. "Seeing how you're getting older, kiddo, we thought that, this year, you might want something more useful in your everyday life and a little bit of freedom to reassert yourself." Lynn Sr, explained. Knowing full well that Lincoln's tastes were in a transitional period. Rita, easing up now that things were starting to return to form, leaned back and then shot forward, spilling her coffee, as a guitar riff emanated from behind her. "Luna!" She yelled, only to realise that Luna was holding a harmonica. She looked around, trying to find the source of the noise, while Lynn Sr, went to get something to clean up with. As he walked past the Christmas tree, the guitar riff sounded again and he jumped into the air. Spilling his own coffee. "Oh, for Pete's sake! Who set up the Christmas tree?" Rita demanded to know, finding nine arms, plus two of Lily's, pointing at Luna.

* * *

After receiving their presents, the Louds tidied up, a very easy task considering they were just moving boxes around, and either went to their next chore or spent time enjoying their present. Luan, having drawn the straw with the hidden tip painted white, had the honour of making Christmas dinner. Lincoln thinking that everything might be behind them, figured he'd join her and maybe smooth things over a bit more. "Need any help?" He asked his older sister.

"Thanks, Linc. Yule have to-" Luan began, before Lincoln cut her off.

"That Christmas pun again? Just admit that coming up with twelve puns, every Christmas, is starting to near towards impossible." Luan scowled, but quickly gave in.

"Fine." She muttered. Only to pull out her counter and hit the button anyway.

As the two cooked dinner and eased tensions, the others were being victimised by a comedy of errors. It had started quite simply, Lana had found Charles rolling around in a pile of congregated glitter and had tried to pull him out of it. In doing so, she sneezed and set off the Christmas tree. Frightening Clifford, who scarpered, ran for his life and then leapt high onto the curtains. Lori, realising this precarious situation. Tried to get Clifford down without him damaging the curtains. Only for Lucy to sneak up behind Lori and mumble. "I'll help." Making Lori jump, which in turn made Cliff try to climb higher. Until, he pulled the curtains down and collapsed in a pile. Spooked once again, he dragged the curtain as he ran for his life. Sweet Lily, wishing to help, but not old enough to think of the consequences, grabbed a loose end of the curtain and pulled. With Clifford pulling on the other end, the curtain raised to about ankle height. Causing Leni to trip, when she came in ask about the calamity. This did free Clifford, who managed to escape under the couch and out of the way. But, the loud bang also woke up the Christmas tree and, as it made its now much hated noise again, Charles slipped out of Lana's arms and started to growl and back at the tree. Leaving behind a trail as he jumped about and padded around the tree. Needless to say, the Louds Senior weren't happy and made note never to trust Christmas to their kids again.

* * *

The mistake of letting their children handle Christmas wasn't quite down with Lynn and Rita Loud yet. As the family sat down to table, everything seemed normal. Luan and Lincoln had called Lori in to help carry the food in. Lynn and Lucy had set the table. Everything seemed normal. Luan had a few tricks up her sleeve, however. Nevertheless, Luna was the first to cause issue. "Oh, this has got to be like a British Christmas." She said, taking a small bottle of brandy out of her skirt pocket and pouring it onto the figgy pudding. She then used a nearby candle to light it and singed her eyebrows in the process, as fire exploded and soared to the celling. Soot licking the top of the room. Even ignoring the fact that figgy pudding was set on fire in England, the fact that she had set the pudding aflame so soon meant that the pudding was ruined. Without a need to eat it, the pudding just sat there roasting under its own fire. Regardless, Rita was more annoyed about Luna carrying alcohol. "We'll talk more later, young lady." Rita growled.

Meanwhile, Luan shifted uncomfortably. As the fire was put out by Lynn Sr, she realised that her prank might not go over so well. Once they were all sat comfortably. Lynn Sr, pulled over the turkey and stuck a knife in to carve it. As he did so, there was a squeaky pop. "How do you like my gas cooking?" Luan nervously asked, as she pulled her collar. Prior to filling the turkey with stuffing, she had also, unbeknownst to Lincoln, made sure to put a whoopee cushion in the turkey. She might had gotten a laugh if this was the only thing to go wrong today, but it hadn't and so she just received dirty looks from her siblings and two glares from her parents.

* * *

"Is there anything else that wants to go wrong today!?" Lynn Sr, yelled in frustration. Only for Lincoln, who had been packing up the lights, to come flying past his parents; when one exploded. "Who set up the lights?" Rita asked, with sloped shoulders and a sigh. The siblings all pointed at Lisa. "Let's just watch T.V." Rita muttered, finally giving in. Lincoln, wanting some time to himself. Rushed upstairs to his room. With Lynn, finished with cleaning, following after him.

In his room, Lincoln checked his new phone, as he set at his desk. There was just one number logged in, emergency services. Lincoln had remembered hearing, though he didn't know where, that Christmas is the day with the highest number of prank calls and now he knew why. With a sigh, he put his phone down and looked around his room. It hadn't been change since he was twelve, aside from the comic books having been stored away. He supposed that he could use his gift vouchers to buy things that reflected himself a little better. But, Lincoln wasn't entirely sure what that was. Right now, he was just an exercise enthusiast that was wrapped up in a plot to seduce three of his older sisters. With Lynn having poured herself out to him. He jokingly thought, maybe he could go full American psycho and buy some nude posters; being sure to nail pictures of Leni, Luna and Luan over the faces of the models. He let his inner joke end there though, he knew that he was the punchline and that it didn't feel so good to be making fun of himself.

He was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Hey, Lincoln." Lynn said, seeming a bit downtrodden.

"You can come in, if you want." Lincoln said, a little bemused by his, normally abrasive, sister simply hiding on the other side of the door. "After the stunt you pulled with Luan and all of the hiding in the attic? That wouldn't be a good idea, right now." Lynn explained. Lincoln feeling a little tired, and having nothing to do with his hands, rubbed his eyes as Lynn took her time getting the meat of the conversation. "How was Luan?" She finally asked.

"There was tension, it felt like we were both trying too hard. But, she joked and we got the cooking done. So, I think we can patch things up." Lincoln answered.

"That's not good." Lynn replied.

"Why?" Lincoln was honestly confused by Lynn's words and turned to face the door as he asked.

"I betcha that Luan wants to bury the problem. But, if that happens. Then it might be back to square one." Lincoln mulled over Lynn's words. She was probably right. But, he was unsure of what he could possibly do about that. "Any ideas?" He asked.

"None, what so ever." Came the reply. Lincoln leaned back in his chair, letting air escape his lungs.

"Can we keep doing this?" Lincoln asked, a question that he had been asking himself for nearly a year now. "I don't know. But, isn't this enough. I kept this up, because I wanted you to be happy. But, aren't I, on my own, enough to make you happy, Lincoln?" Lynn was opening up again. She always kept herself locked up, until eventually she burst and a wave of emotions was let loose. A wave that Lincoln couldn't deal with. "Yeah, I think that's enough. I've been exploiting you Lynn, the same way you exploited me, I'm sorry. I still want Leni, Luna and Luan. Still yearn for them. But, I should just be happy that I have you and that you're willing to go through so much for me." Lincoln, having come to terms with reality, and having turned his back on his desires, flung open the door and gave Lynn a hearty hug. Only to receive a chop to the waist in return. "Lincoln! What if somebody saw!" She exclaimed, but conceded and gave Lincoln a peck on the lips. "You know, I can't always explain why I feel the way that I do about you. You should just be my little brother. But, you don't just fill out that role anymore. You've become something more to me. So, from now on, let's just keep growing and becoming more for each other." Lincoln, rubbed his waist, and stood up straight. Looking Lynn straight in the eyes. He was a bit tentative, at first, as he moved a hand towards Lynn and she laid her cheek in his palm, knowing that what happened next would signify something so much bigger than just himself or just Lynn. He brought his face towards hers, their noses gently touching, thoughts of what was and what will be faded his mind. There was brief moment of hesitation, followed by a tender kiss laid upon Lynn's lips. Everything was different. It was less about passion and more about love. The once hot and wet exchange was now a soft, sweet embrace. Then, as it was just a fleeting moment, those feelings faded as their lips parted. They separated, but what they had just shared in didn't. The two smiled at each other, knowing how close they had become.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by as Christmases often would, aside from a few small notes. Rita had thrown out the Christmas tree, having been scared one too many times. She had thrown it into Mr. Grouse's yard, where it would never be seen again. The other siblings did their best to make up for a somewhat spoiled Christmas, pampering their parents all through the afternoon and, from when they came down to when they went to their rooms, Lynn and Lincoln kept looking at each other. Sometimes they'd meet each other's gazes and smile or pull faces, sometimes one would simply watch the other. If one had been watching, they'd have immediately been suspicious. Thankfully, Lynn and Lincoln proved to be lucky. But, luck is a fickle and jealous mistress.

When night came, the Louds got ready for bed, Lynn and Lincoln getting in a few more glances at each other, and then they all departed for their rooms. Luna climbed into bed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Luan had one last objective in mind. Reviewing the camera footage. But, whether it was from tiredness or thanks to the time spent with Lincoln cooking dinner, she felt that she was only going over it as an excuse to unwind and settle down for a good night's rest. She even promised to take the camera back as soon as possible. When the video turned on, it was apparent that it was of low quality. Low quality video and, when Lincoln came back, it was revealed that it was low quality sound as well. She watched him cool off for a bit, scratch his balls, which was something she didn't need to see, and then, as a result of scratching, be prompted to masturbate; which was something Luan felt she really didn't need to see. Right now, Luan felt that she was just a joke. Here she was, tired, ready for bed, and she was spending her time watching her little brother masturbate. She hit fast-forward and kept it running, speeding through Lincoln sneaking out, coming back after a shower, exercising, using sanitising wipes to clean up, getting dressed and disappearing. No doubt, in order to participate in Christmas. She shot through a lot of an empty room, Lincoln eventually coming back and staring at a phone. She nearly skipped until she ran out of footage, but something seemed unusual to her. She paused the video and then put it on a slow rewind. For a good few minutes, Lincoln is just staring at a door and hardly ever looks away. Luan found it quite curious, as everyone in the Loud family would just go into Lincolns room if they wanted to talk to him. She pressed play, that being the spacebar on her laptop, and listened in on the conversation. Only able to hear Lincoln's side of it, sometimes missing a word or two as, as well as low quality video and sound, the camera also had low battery and was threatening to go off. Luan knew she was good, but she also knew that she wasn't getting everything. She was good with words though and managed to guess what was really being said just fine. As the conversation continued, it seemed like somebody was just checking up on Lincoln and wondered if he had made up with Luan. Then the conversation went in a different direction. She heard Lincoln say, "Ideas?" Seemingly asking for advice. Luan at first thought that Lincoln might be asking for advice on repairing his and her relationship. But then, she heard. "Can we _ doing this?" She figured the missing word was keep. But, that opened up a few questions in Luan's mind. Who's we, what's this and have Lincoln and someone else already been up to something for a while now? After a slight pause, whoever was on the other side of the door was talking at length, she heard "Yeah." Before the video gave out and came back in. Unfortunately, to anyone watching the video, rather than a jump it looked like a mere flicker and the next words that Luan heard Lincoln say was. "I still want Leni, Luna and Luan." She didn't anything else, not about how Lincoln yearned for them, not about how he was going to try and give up on them. At that point, the audio finally gave out and the video deteriorated and followed after it. The last thing she saw was Lincoln getting up and reaching for the door handles.

Luan didn't know what to do. She remembered Luna saying "so what?" And wondered if she was making a bigger issue out of it than she should or even needed to. But, she decided that she wasn't the only person involved and that other people's opinion mattered. She shut the laptop and crept up to Luna's bed and shook her till her eyelids opened. "Huh, what's the matter?" Luna was groggy, not only did she sound it, but her dialect hadn't woken up yet. "Older sister meeting, meet me in Lori's room." Luan told her. "Now? Now?" Luna asked in disbelief.

"Yes, now. It's about Lincoln." Luan explained, as she descended the steps. Being careful not to be too noisy and wake up the parents. Luna pulled out her pillows, from beneath her, and groaned into it. Not really wanting to deal with it, but knowing that Lori might come and get her anyway. Luan left the room, taking her laptop with her, and Luna got up and went to get Lynn.

* * *

When Luna and Lynn came into the room, they found Luan talking to Lori with Leni wiping the sleepers out of her eyes. When Luan saw Lynn, she immediately got at Luna. "I said older sister meeting."

"Well, you're not an older sister of mine, Lori and Leni are, so I thought you meant every sister older than the middle child." Luna rebuked.

"Hey, I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me here. But, I'm here. So, let's just get this over with." Lynn grumbled and followed her words up with a wide yawn. Luan shook her head.

"Fine. Fine. Having you here won't hurt." She said and then opened up her laptop, rewinding until it got to the start of the conversation and then paused. Lynn, sitting down next to Leni, looked over Luan's shoulder and saw Lincoln in his room. "You've got video of Lincoln's room?" She asked in an accusing tone of voice. "Trust me, the ends justify the means." Luan said, but Lori just made a hand gesture for Luan to simply "hurry it up." So, Luan played the video, from when Lincoln answered Lynn, on the other side of the door, until the video cut off. Lynn was safe from persecution, but she knew she had to enact damage control. "I still don't see how the ends justify the means, Luan." Lynn stated.

"When I started that argument with Lincoln, I didn't want to tell anyone, only opening up to Luna about it, it was because he had slapped me on the butt and then just walked away as if it was nothing. I thought something might be up with Lincoln, so I put a camera in his room. It was a bad idea and I changed my mind about it, I was going to take it out the next day. But, I decided to look over the video footage, before going to bed, and this is what showed up." Luna made a lengthy explanation. Only to receive a swift strike on her ass, from Lynn. "As family, I don't think doing stupid things like this is really noteworthy. Sure, I can see why you got mad at him, I'd get mad at him. But, because you've already made something big out of something small, you're continuing to do that for everything related to Lincoln." Lynn was doing her best, putting herself in harm's way. But, it was for naught.

"Lynn, I know you don't want to see Lincoln getting hurt. But, this might be serious. We can't just put a big 'do not open until next x-mas' card on this." Lori told Lynn, with the intention of being the responsible eldest sibling. Lori covered her jaw with her hand, as she thought for a moment. A quark, of many, that she had picked up from over a year of college. "Not a word of this, escapes this room, not to a younger sister, not to mom and dad and especially not to Lincoln. Got it?" Lori spoke with authority and the others quickly nodded their heads. "Next, if Lincoln's hot, we're cold. I want brief conversations at most. That includes you too Lynn." Lori told her sisters.

"What, why me?" Lynn wanted to argue with Lori, but she was cut off.

"Because, this is literally a sensitive situation, so just do as I say!" Lori exclaimed, being careful not to shout. Lynn was still a little taken aback, regardless, as she hadn't heard Lori say literally in months. She thought she had kicked the habit. Lori had as well. But, that just showed how on edge Lori currently was.

Like a valve, Lori let out air, to avoid exploding, before she continued. "Aside from that, we don't do anything until we're sure about this and I mean absolutely sure. I want more than just one faulty video. Otherwise, cold shoulders from here on out until I figure out what to do." Lori lectured. However, of all people, Leni objected. "We can't just do that to Lincy, he's our brother."

"Leni-" Lori tried to justify her actions. But Leni wouldn't let her. She blamed herself, after all, with kissing Lincoln and then suddenly deciding to stop. "And what if you're wrong? What if you're wrong?"  
"If I'm wrong, we can make it up with lots of ice cream and money and video games." Lori cried out. Silencing Leni. "I would love to be wrong, Leni. But, I'd hate to be right even more and that's why we're doing this. At least until we can figure out something better. In the morning, I'll talk to Bobby's uncle and he might even have an idea that puts an end to this that very same day. But, right now, we've got to play this safe. This is for Lincoln's sake too, after all." Lori huffed and panted, her long tirade over, she laid down the bed. "I'm not going to be getting any sleep tonight, thanks to this. So, just leave me alone for now." Lori said, not even looking at her sisters. As they all, save for Leni, filed out of her room.

During the entire conflict, Luna didn't say a word. Nor did she say a word as the girls returned to their rooms. Though, this didn't go unnoticed by Luan. "You're quiet." She said, standing in the doorframe of her bedroom. "I need time to think and cool off, I'm heading outside." Luna mumbled, barely loud enough for Luan to hear. "Luna." Luan simply said, but Luna snapped at her closest sister.

"Luan, I'm angry at you, I'm angry at Lincoln and I'm angry at me. So, just let me cool down." Luna then headed down the stairs and left the house, not really caring if she woke up her parents. Not that it mattered much, as the rocker girls was already grounded for the pudding fiasco. Luan felt close to tears, she had pretty much just burned half the family in one night. But, she didn't regret her decision. This was simply putting out a fire with another fire.


End file.
